


O Bury Me Not

by cowboykylux



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Admiral Hux, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Fist Fights, Historical Accuracy, M/M, Murder Husbands, Oral Sex, Pirate Kylo, Shameless Smut, Strangers to Lovers, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 06:36:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 75,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11708859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cowboykylux/pseuds/cowboykylux
Summary: Armitage Hux has only ever had one dream: ruling the oceans with an iron fist. As Admiral of the British Royal Navy, he thought he was on top of the world, but it only takes a run-in with a handsome and ferocious pirate to show him there's so much more to be conquered, if he's willing to leave his life behind.





	1. Crooked Rows of Golden Teeth

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This fic was born from the mass amounts of knowledge I happen to have on the golden age of piracy. The title was inspired by a traditional sea shanty, and this fic was encouraged by my new wonderful friends!  
> Without any further ado, please enjoy the first chapter! x  
> (un-beta'd, any mistakes are my own!!)

If there was one thing Hux loved, it was the port. The Thames was practically a road, with ships anchored along its banks like carriages parked along the avenues. The sight of so many sails made him hum fondly as the click of his heeled boots rapped against the pavement, just loud enough to be heard over the incessant cry of gulls overhead. He licked salt from his lips, and breathed in deeply, oh how he had missed the breezes of the shores.

With London as the premiere port city, the demand for experienced sailors had grown exponentially, and it was well known that there could be no better captain found outside the Hux family. It was no secret that the Royal Navy was the most powerful entity on the planet, and that Armitage himself was one of the best officers capable of running it. To his father’s dismay, Hux much preferred to be on the open waters – with the wind in his copper hair, and the sun peeling his freckled skin.

Not to say he hadn’t put his time behind a desk, he technically was an Admiral. Many of his fellow officers viewed his choice to captain a ship a demotion, but he knew better.

“It’s safer here on land,” They said, gesturing to the crumbling buildings made of stolen stone.

“You have too much work to go galivanting on the high seas,” They said, packing up their trunks to prepare for vacation.

They were hypocrites, the lot of them.

He maintained his political and military responsibilities from the comfort of a vessel rather than a stuffy old room filled with even older wigs. He knew he wouldn’t succeed his father as Grand Admiral of the Fleet until the old buzzard died, but he was in no hurry. The longer he could spend on the water, the better.

Which is why he found himself standing in front of the Royal Navy’s new flagship, the _Finalizer,_ with his hands clasped behind his back, and a proud smile on his face. When the call had been put out to dispel ships to retaliate against the Spanish, he had been the first to volunteer. His expertise spoke for itself, and he was immediately selected.

His old ship, the _Stalwart,_ had been burned down, and he was itching to attack. The Royal Navy had recouped, and was now stronger than ever – and Hux was thirsty for blood.

“Good morning admiral!” A thin man nearly collided into him, and then saluted.

“You’re quite chipper this morning, Mitaka.” He replied with the hint of a smile. He couldn’t blame Mitaka for his mood, he was excited to be sailing, all the crewmen were. Hux began walking towards the docks, pleased as the crowds parted for him at the recognition of his uniform and his face.

“I’m afraid I can’t help it, sir. She’s all ready for departure, at your command.” Mitaka grinned, matching Hux’s pace. “Might I say, the shipwrights really outdid themselves this time, sir.” He gestured to the looming presence that had masts so tall it blocked the sun.

“Indeed they did.” Hux gave a genuine laugh as he surveyed the outside of the ship.

Hux had all but nailed the wooden planks together on this boat. He used his engineering background to design something so magnificent, that it would be the ultimate flagship for the crown. Shielding the sun from his face with a gloved hand, he couldn’t help but grin.

She was _gorgeous_.

There had been a bit of buzz surrounding her, as the king had ordered an extra twelve guns be added to the design, bringing the total to a whopping one hundred and two. They were polished bronze, and Hux could practically hear the deafening boom they would create when they ripped into wooden hulls. Hux remembered the skepticism of the ship, recalling the written criticism from Trinity House, who released a statement with such colorful language as, _“if the ship must perish, the King must lose his jewel, four or five hundred man must die, and perhaps some great and noble peer.”_ It was quite the scandal.

But here she was, sitting proudly at port with all nine of her sails untied, and both flags proudly flowing in the breeze. He ascended the wooden ramp that led to the highest of the three decks onboard, and was met with a crew who snapped to attention immediately. Hux had a good feeling about this trip, he could feel in his bones something was going to happen.

“Good morning men. I trust you are all in the right place, ready to depart from Woolwich Dockyard aboard H.M.S _Finalizer_?” He called, letting his voice carry.

“Yes, sir!” They rang out in unison, and Hux’s heart began to beat just a little faster.

“As you all know, just a few months ago we were attacked by the Spanish, and lost humiliatingly. I have my orders to seek revenge, and I do so seek it.” He hissed, letting his reputation for cruelty show on his face, in the way his hand reached for his French flintlock pistol that he had stolen off the body of a soldier who had come a hair too close. Hux never had any qualms about owning it, one didn’t need a gun at the bottom of the ocean, after all.

“Yes, sir!” The crew sang out again, wildness in their eyes. Hux beamed.

“If no one has anything to say to further delay our deployment, then all hands to weigh anchor!” He shouted, a proud glint in his eye as the crew scrambled to their positions.

Nine burly men rushed to the capstan, and to the beat of the ship’s fifer, they began to push, walking round and around again as they brought the anchor cable up.

“Up and down, sir!” Came the call a few minutes later, when the cable had been hoisted enough so that the anchor was no longer in the water.

“Thick and dry for weighing.” Hux called, knowing the anchor cable needed to be dried before any more of it could be brought up; it was grossly heavy as it was, they certainly didn’t need the added water weight.

With that, he made his way around the deck, giving the ship a thorough inspection. The planks had been polished beautifully, the ropes had not a single fray, and the sails were bleach white. He gave one last look at the port, the hustle and bustle of the shops nestled right along the coast, and gave the call to push away from the dock. It was going to be a glorious and bloody revenge, Hux was sure.

 

Hux had a pep in his step as he paced along the deck, watching with a pleased eye as his crewmen scurried about, tending to the ship. He noted the variety in men among the _Finalizer,_ ranging from seasoned sailors to fresh faced landsmen who had only ever been on the waters for a year or less. He tried not to judge too harshly, remembering how young he had been when he first found himself aboard, barely eleven years of age and used primarily to fit into the small spaces the bigger men simply couldn’t manage through.

 _Thin as a slip of paper, and just as useless._ His father had once sneered down at him, early greying eyebrows pinched, bushy and cruel. He smirked to himself and oversaw the dozens of people below him; he had proven himself to be worthy of the _Finalizer,_ he would show his father he was worthy of respect just the same.

“Admiral!” A familiar voice called from the deck below, and Hux couldn’t help but smile as Mitaka held his cap in his hand and waved it.

He lifted a hand and gave one short wave, signaling for Mitaka to run up to him.

“How does she sail, Captain?” Mitaka beamed up at him. He was so young, much younger than any Lieutenant Hux had ever seen, but maybe that’s why they were friends. Hux knew all about clawing his way up to the top.

“Mitaka, this is the steadiest ship I have ever been aboard.” Hux admitted, dropping the formality.

They had been on the ocean for a couple hours now, the port long behind them and nothing but the glittering waves ahead. The _Finalizer_ cut through the waters like a knife through softened butter, she didn’t even leave too rough of a wake in her path – Hux was thoroughly impressed. He may have designed her, but the realization of the ship was entirely by the hands of the builders, and they could not have done a better job.

“Excellent, sir. How would you like for me to take you to meet some of the crew? I know many are anxious to personally greet their captain.” Mitaka asked, pulling a stack of papers from underneath his arm.

“Ah yes, the contracts. I’d like to look them over quickly before I meet with the men.” He held a gloved hand out, the papers dutifully placed in his grasp.

“Of course, sir. Your private quarters are just through these doors if you’d be more comfortable there.” He gestured to the grand wooden doors behind them, and Hux gave a curt nod. He had been standing straight backed as the ship gently rocked, and had greatly wanted to sit down.

“I shall call for you when I’ve finished my review.” Hux held the papers up, walking back into his room.

Like everything else aboard the ship, his cabin was beautiful. The wood was stained a beautiful cherry color, and followed the curves of the walls with ease. Light splashed through the grid windows, golden squares casting on the creaking floor. The floor was covered with Persian rugs for which Hux was immensely grateful, he knew just how cold the nights at sea could be and was glad to have something to protect his toes from the chilly wood.

His bed was modest, he had a grand wardrobe that contained multiples of his uniform, and there was a large table for drafting plans or looking at maps. Other than that, the room was bare save for the Union Jack that occupied most of the west wall. One of the servant boys had brought up his luggage before he had even made his way to the port that morning, so he set about unpacking his trunks.

Hux prided himself on living with as few possessions as possible, he only brought his favorite books, a brand-new leather bound journal for this voyage, and his brass compass that he had inherited from his mother. He knew it was sentimental, but he needed something to remember her by, besides, it was an excellent compass that always pointed true North. Anything else he needed – clothing, food, entertainment – was provided by the Navy. He could waste his time playing cards or singing songs, but he had work to do; starting with the stack of contracts on his table.

Everything seemed in order, he especially went over the wages, making sure his miser of a father didn’t con anyone into lesser salary. He was pleased to see the pay of an ordinary seaman had indeed remained at nineteen shillings, and that of the higher officers was steady at twenty-four. Hux knew why so many sailors joined the Royal Navy, the pay was almost four times what merchant ships were making, even with all the trade. There was no doubt these men had joined for the pay, but Hux couldn’t find it in his heart to be bothered, he knew these men had families to support and the Navy was the best way to do such a thing these days.

He sifted through all the contracts until he had the names memorized, and left his cabin to find Mitaka.

“Lieutenant!” He called, causing a few gazes to lift. The men raised a cheerful hand to greet him, and he gave a polite nod back, but set about looking for his friend.

While he had some peace of mind, he tried to play a little game – matching the names on the contracts to the faces of the men who signed them. The men aboard the _Finalizer_ had all been together for as long as they had been working, and as such, no one referred to people by their first or even last names; instead coming up with creative nicknames based off anything they could think of. Hux wanted these men to like him, he knew they respected him, but if they were going to head into battle, he wanted them to know that he viewed them as people, not just cannon fodder. 

Digger and Spots were whistling an unfamiliar tune as they brushed boar’s hair brooms against the wooden planks, keeping them free from salt and excess water. Jet, Levet, and Stone were whistling the same song as they strung up the ropes to prevent them from getting tangled, tying knots in their hammocks to keep them from swaying too much in the breeze.

Hux found himself humming along after a few reputations of the song, and he thought it to be quite catchy.

“Good afternoon, gentlemen.” Hux walked to where Digger and Spots were dousing the brooms in buckets of seawater.

“Afternoon, Captain! ‘Ow may we ‘elp yer today?” Digger, the older of the two saluted. Hux smiled and waved the motion away.

“I was just coming to compliment your work, the deck looks fit as new.”

“Why tank you, it means a lot. I’m showing Spots ‘ere how tah do it, so I can ‘elp the boys down in the mess hall prepare lunch.” Digger gave a toothless grin.

“Have you never swabbed the deck before, Spots?” He asked, raising an eyebrow down at the young man. He was much older than some of the cabin boys, already over the age of eighteen, if his contract was to be believed. One of the first things the seamen learned was ship maintenance, Hux has scrubbed more boats than he would care to admit.

“Of course, sir!” Spots said quickly, earning a throaty chuckle from his friend. “Digger here just has very high standards.” He sniffed, flexing his hands.

“Only tah best fer HMS _Finalizer._ ” Digger agreed, lifting his chin with pride. Hux liked him and gave them a clipped nod.

“It is much appreciated, gentleman. Carry on, enjoy your lunch.” Hux waved, before walking away to resume his original task of locating Mitaka.

He explored each inch of the ship, even climbing up the nets and ropes to the masthead where he was greeted by Ponds, Rex, and Boomer, all tending to one particular sail that had come untied just slightly too loose.

From up there, the view of the ocean was breathtaking. He almost wanted to take off his Navy uniform and swan dive into the sapphire waters below. He shook his head, he had worked hard for this jacket, and he would continue to wear it. Bidding goodbye to the men sitting on the main topgallant and topsail yards, he climbed back down, greeting the men who were gearing up to head down to the mess hall.

“What’s for lunch?” He overheard the head carpenter, a burly man by the name of Deviss ask a cabin boy.

“I think pulled pork today!” The boy happily responded before towing away a pile of ropes that had to have weighed more than he did. Deviss gave a satisfied smile, and Hux had to look away, lest he be caught making faces at the cook’s food.

His stomach hadn’t yet begun to growl, so he resolved to abstain from the salted meat of lunch. He still hadn’t found Mitaka, which wasn’t unusual for a ship this large, there were three levels. He really did want to speak with him though, and with the growing nearness of lunch, he figured Mitaka must have gone down to the mess hall. Figuring that was his best plan, Hux headed down that way, checking for any sign of his Lieutenant along the way.

The _Finalizer_ had many rooms, bordering on too many. Granted, they were a warship and needed all the storage for gunpowder and cannons, but still. Hux had opened twenty doors by this point and was getting frustrated. He was about to give up and head straight for the mess hall when he heard a choked off groan coming from behind the last door on this level. Confusion pulling his brows together, he didn’t think to knock before he opened the door, seeing just enough to slam it shut again. The force of his action sent the men just beyond the door scrambling, pulling clothing back to rights.

His heart slammed against his chest, the image of Mitaka _servicing_ the Quartermaster burned into his eyes. He took an awkward step away, and straightened his posture to perfection, betraying none of the shock that was coursing through his veins. Mitaka, _gay?_ Hux shook his head, he had never known – but then again, with the way gay men were persecuted in their city, one did have to be extremely careful. Hux thought he had done a good job so far, and it was clear that right up until this slipup, Mitaka had done well too. He briskly walked away, not risking drawing attention to the door where a great deal of shuffling could be heard behind.

Hux was no fool, he knew many men who devoted their lives to the ocean did so for a variety of reasons, and homosexuality was certainly up there. The anonymity of shore leave had been so appealing to a young Armitage, once upon a time. Now he would be lucky for a stolen kiss on a Caribbean island, he was too recognizable in rank and name for anything more, it really was a pity. He often had dreams of the stronger men aboard various ships he had captained, doing the same illicit activities he just caught Mitaka and the quartermaster engaging in.

 _Get a grip,_ he chided himself. He wasn’t here to mess around, he was here for war. Real battle, complete with ruddy waters of blood that would attract the hungry sharks in the depths below. He cleared his throat, shaking himself from his own thoughts of Spanish screams.

The salty breeze was welcome as the fluffy white clouds pushed themselves from the sun, giving the bright star a chance to beat down on the decks. Not wanting to catch a case of scurvy, he resolved to go even further below deck to the kitchens, skipping the mess hall altogether, and see if he could pull rank to steal citrus. At the thought, he suddenly craved a juicy orange, knowing that they were a specialty but not giving a damn – he was admiral after all.

The kitchens were quiet, lunch being served a few rooms over, and he hummed happily as no one was there to pretend to care about him taking a piece of fruit, peeling it with his teeth. He was careful not to get juice on his cravat, and settled into one of the wooden chairs at the prep table. He had always felt very at ease around kitchens, something to do with his mother, no doubt.

Sitting with his shoulders square was too hard of a habit to break now, he thought as he chewed the tangy slices that he pried away from orange skin. Things were peaceful, there on the lowest level. It was dark, but that was to be expected as the windows stopped on the deck above him. He had just finished his orange when the ship gave a sudden lurch to the side. He heard shouts and curses of all sorts coming from above. Frowning, he abandoned his peel on the table and calmly made his way above deck.

The weather had taken a considerable turn in the hours that they had been at sea, and certainly flipped like a switch in the time he had spent below; going from clear blue skies to a raging storm. The wind had whipped up the rain, and it doused the deck with abandon, slicking the wood and puddling up, sending barrels and crates sliding with the lurching of the ship. The sun that had been out only moments before was consumed by the void, only the occasional flash of lightning to illuminate the raging ocean.

“Barrelman Thanisson!” Hux barked, eyes widening as he saw the extent of the storm that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The clouds seemed to stretch on forever in front of them, and if he spared a moment to turn around, he would have seen the blue skies they had sailed from being rapidly swallowed by the blackness.

“Here, sir!” Thanisson shouted from the masthead. Hux couldn’t hear him too well with the harsh smacking of rain against the deck, so he grabbed the nets that were hanging from the mast and hauled himself up, trying to get closer.

“I thought the weather report read, ‘optimal conditions.’” Hux cupped his hands around his mouth so the words would reach him as far away as he was. The wind flung the net he had climbed up, taking him with it. He ground his teeth together and locked his knees together, refusing to let the flashes of lightning throw him.

“It did, sir.” Thanisson sounded scared, he knew from the contract that this was his first Naval mission.

“Do you call this _optimal_ , Thanisson?” He snarled, his temper getting the better of him as jumped down from the nets. He miraculously landed on his feet, boots slamming against the deck, splashing water all over.

“All hands on-deck! Boatswain, get those sails trimmed.” Hux shouted around a mouthful of saltwater.

“Yes, sir!” The boatswain responded, passing him up the nets as he and his fellow crewmen climbed up to the sails, hanging over the wooden posts and furling the fabric up as much as possible.

“Bare poles, men.” Hux shouted over the rain, shoving a hand through his hair to push it out of his eyes. He knew it was risky, that they would have no forward motion without a single sail to catch the wind, but the harsh crack of thunder made the decision for him. They would be spun out of control if the sails were up, he repeated the order and kept composure as much as possible as the ship rocked from side to side, waves over fifty feet high. 

They men tied the sails up as tightly as possible, securing it with rope just as one of those waves crashed onto the deck. He heard the sickening crunch of men being thrown against the rails, the splintering of wood and shattering of bones as the sea claimed her victims.

“Helmsman, keep the bow end-on, we won’t let these waves capsize us.” Hux kept his voice steady, not daring to show his terror. He had never faced a storm this bad in his career, his brain running on autopilot, searching the back of his mind for lessons learned on the sea, of what to do to survive when the ocean raged like this.

“No sir, we won’t.” The helmsman agreed, gripping the spokes on the wheel.

“Let the wind pull us in helmsman, I can’t risk the sails.” Hux said, just to have something to say. The helmsman, a thin man named Chip, had at least twenty years seniority but thankfully wasn’t in the mood to dispute Hux’s orders.

“Double the men down in the bilges! We need that water pumped out if we’re going to survive this.” Hux called, pointing at men who looked muscular enough to push the pumps.

“Keep her steady, we’ll make it out of this yet. No one sleeps, we all have to be alert.” He yelled, earning a series of half-hearted responses.

“Ship sighted!” Thanisson shouted at the top of his lungs, an arm yanked out in front of him. Hux rushed to the mast, climbing the nets again as fast as he could with the wind and the rain stinging his eyes.

“Where?” Hux demanded, grasping the telescope with slippery fingers as the ship shook with the waves.

“Broad on starboard quarter, sir!” Thanisson’s voice shook even harder than before, and Hux could see the fear in his eyes.

“Shit,” Hux sucked in a breath, before turning his attention to the men below. “Ready the guns!” He held the telescope as steadily as he could, watching as a big ship, even bigger than the _Finalizer,_ emerged from the clouds.

It had sails blacker than ink, so dark that Hux thought the captain had called for bare poles just as he had done. He realized in horror that was not the case, and not only did the captain of this pirate ship know how to navigate storm weather, but he was on course to collide with the _Finalizer,_ and there was nothing they could do about it.

“Cannons loaded, sir!” One of the gunners called from the deck, and Hux grit his teeth. He had really hoped to save those cannons for the Spanish, but there would be no battle fought if they were slaughtered by barbarian hands.

Hux waited, and waited, until he could see the skull and crossbones waving manically in the air, before leaning over the crowsnest to address his men below.

“Fire!” He spat, the ferocity of the order making Thanisson flinch.

One after the other, twenty-five canons hurled across the ocean, and one by one, they all fell just too short of actually hitting their target, the wind interfering with their velocity.

“Shit.” He cursed again, this time a little louder. “Fire!” He ordered once more, the other group of twenty-five cannons booming with a kickback that rocked the ship even further. Again, they all failed.

Hux was beginning to panic. He couldn’t see, couldn’t hear the shouts of his men from how high up he was, and none of the cannons were making their mark. He was about to call for a reload, when the first blow hit. A cannon ripped into the side of the _Finalizer,_ the force of the impact shattering the wood and spraying splinters in the air.

“We need to get down,” Hux tried his best to speak softly to Thanisson, but the strain was so evident he didn’t think it did any good.

The two scrambled, wary of the torn footfalls in the net, and slid down as quickly as possible, the friction from the rope burning their hands. The pirate ship was so close now, he could see lanterns that were glowing softly, and in between the flashes of lightning, Hux could make out figures that were standing proudly; drenched from head to toe but flashing their swords. Pirates. Bloody, _fucking_ pirates. As if this day hadn’t gone from bad to worse in a heartbeat – he didn’t need this.

He ran over to the helmsman, who had been holding the ship as steady as possible throughout the entire ordeal, for which Hux was grateful. So many men had been killed already, swept overboard and had their skulls cracked against the hull of the ship, the last thing he needed was the wheel spiraling out of control too.

Lightning struck the ship just then, sending great flames licking up the bow. Hux desperately wished the rain would douse the fire, and he bit the inside of his cheek hard enough to draw blood when it didn’t.

“The kitchens.” He cursed, running a hand through his hair. How in the hell did he forget to order the dousing of the flames in the kitchen? Water would do them more harm than good now, as grease filled the decks below, spreading the fire.

“What’ll I do, sir?” Chip asked, white-knuckle grip on the wheel never failing.

“We shall do our best to hold on as long as we can.” He replied, before running below deck to the gunners.

The lower decks were a flooded mess, crates of gunpowder floated on top of the waist-deep waters. Everyone had either fled, or moved to aid another part of the ship, so he loaded cannons as quickly as he could on his own. He lit and fired them each as soon as they were in place, hoping that at least one of them landed.

Above deck, he knew the ship was being torn to pieces. He knew what it sounded like when the mast was shot through, how it creaked and groaned falling limp over onto itself. He knew the screams of men too tough to hug their sons goodbye, as they drowned in the sails that had been cut free by bolts of lightning.

Hux pushed forward, loading and firing cannons, even as the heavy sounds of pirate boots thudded against the planks, thinking if his ship was going to be destroyed, then so was he. It was a freeing sort of feeling, to know one’s death was imminent. Chest rising and falling rapidly, he surveyed his options. He could either stay below deck and drown, get caught in the spreading flames, or go above deck and get blown to smithereens, stabbed through with a cutlass, or swept up by the waves.

Without another thought, he gripped his pistol and ascended the ladders to the top deck, pulling the trigger against every pirate he saw. There was a sick satisfaction as the bullets exploded from the barrel of his gun, even more of a feral feeling blooming in his chest when he heard it land its mark. In another life, Hux thought he could have been quite the sniper, but there was no use dwelling on such things now.

He caught a pirate’s eye, a handsome man with thick black hair and a ferocious scar running the length of his face. He was young, younger than even himself, but wore the clothes of a captain. If there had been any time at all, Hux might have considered himself impressed. Before the pirate could react, a wave swelled in the distance.

“Return to the ship!” The man called out, the baritone in his voice echoing in Hux’s skull. The pirates obeyed immediately, grabbing whatever they could get their hands on before running across the deck and jumping onto the nets that had been thrown over the side of their own ship, leaving behind nothing but blood that was steadily washed away from the rain.

Hux was caught so completely off-guard by the slam of the wave, that he hadn’t even thought to grab onto something. The force of it broke the mast the rest of the way, and it slammed through the ship, effectively cutting it in half. He sucked in a desperate breath of air as the wave whisked him away, salt stinging his eyes and the open wounds on his hands.

The wind and the rain followed the currents, leaving behind only the oppressive blackness of the clouds. His ship had sunk, the _Finalizer_ and all her crew were gone. With the last vestiges of his energy, Hux swam. He swam and swam, trying to catch up to the pirate ship that had wreaked havoc on his life; hatred and spite the only things keeping him alive. He wanted to kill that captain for ruining his career, he wanted to make the pirates _bleed._

His hands were torn and bloody from the rope burns he had inadvertently inflicted upon himself, his uniform destroyed. But he kicked his legs and pushed his arms through the water, until he grabbed hold of a net that hadn’t been fully lifted out of the water.

He tucked himself into the net, careful to not accidentally strangle himself or drown, and allowed himself to be tethered to the ship. The pirate ship was moving in the opposite direction that his had sunk, his only view being the bodies that had floated to the surface. He was exhausted and sore all over from being thrown around both physically and mentally by this storm and the subsequent attack. Dimly, he was aware that he should be dead, that a real captain would have drowned with the ship, but he decided he would deal with that if he ever woke up.

As his eyes fluttered closed, he wondered if Mitaka had died in the arms of that quartermaster, if they had at least had one more moment together.

Even though he would never know the answer, he envied the possibility.

 

* * *

 

“Well well well, what do we have here?” A taunting sing-song called to him.

Hux startled awake to the laugh of a dozen pirates, the creak of wooden gears hoisting the net up from the water too loud in his ears. The glint of the sun off the men’s golden jewelry was doing nothing to aid his headache.

“Would ya look at that,” One of them elbowed the pirate next to him, “We’ve caught ourselves an officer!” At that, another raucous round of laughter panged into his head, and Hux pressed one pruned hand to his eyes, blinking against the sun.

“Oh he’s a prissy one, ain’t he?” The one with two nose piercings grinned, making Hux scowl.

“Does he speak? Or did we cut out his tongue, I can’t remember?” The first pirate laughed, red in the face.

“He most certainly has his tongue.” Hux snapped, before being unceremoniously dumped onto the filthy deck of this God forsaken ship. Six of the men circled around him, staring down and poking fun of his torn jacket.

“Oi, I’d mind that tongue before you find it missin’.” The pirate Hux had dubbed Nose-Ring spit, taking great delight in watching Hux wipe the offending fluid from his cheek with his sleeve.

“Knights!” A deep voice barked from beyond the circle, and all six men stood to attention faster than the _Finalizer_ had sunk.

“Aye, Captain!” They all said in unison.

“You’re all dismissed.” The captain waved them away, tilting his head as he gave Hux an appraising look.

Hux wasted no time in tackling the captain to the ground, bringing the attention of the entire crew. They all had their swords and daggers drawn, reaching forward to grab at Hux, while he desperately tried to choke the captain to death. The captain kicked at Hux, trying to buck him off, but he was determined.

“Curse you all to hell for what you’ve done to my ship.” Hux growled, breaking out of the pirates’ hold and diving back in to get the captain’s throat under his hands again.

The captain rolled them around until he had Hux pinned to the deck, and smacked him straight across the face. Hux’s chest was heaving, the exertion of his attack taking its toll on his already exhausted muscles.

“Enough!” The captain ordered, raising his hand as if to smack Hux again.

He just bared his teeth in a feral sort of hiss, before slumping under the weight of the captain’s knees pinning his chest.

Hux’s eyes narrowed as the captain leaned forward, their faces close to touching; it was the stunning man Hux had only gotten a few moments to look at the night before. In the sunlight, he was even more gorgeous than before, with his hair no longer wet and stringy – instead it was tousled to perfection, framing his mole-dotted face.

He was dressed in all black, Hux rolled his eyes. _How sinister,_ he thought, perfectly applicable for a pirate.

“What’s your name?” The captain asked, pulling back slightly, when he was sure Hux wouldn’t go for his throat again. His voice was surprisingly gentle, it sent a shiver up Hux’s spine; from arousal or fear, he wasn’t sure. It was probably a mixture of both. He would figure out what’s wrong with him later, he decided.

“Admiral Armitage Hux at your service.” He bit out, refusing to give nothing but his darkest glare.

“Irish?” The captain asked, clearly intrigued by the lilt to his voice, darkening Hux’s glare. He was not about to defend his heritage against anyone, let alone a pirate. The captain didn’t say anything more on the subject, instead standing fully to give a sarcastic salute. “My name is Captain Ren, Admiral. Welcome aboard the _Silencer._ ” He gestured with his arms to his impossibly huge ship.

“An apt name for such a vessel.” Hux sneered, earning a quirk of the lips from Ren.

“Thank you, we try to keep a low profile, it makes pillaging that much easier.” Ren replied, and Hux honestly couldn’t tell if he was joking. The sparkle in his good eye made Hux think he was being funny, but he didn’t deign to laugh.

“Just execute me already.” He finally looked away, looking down at Ren’s weathered boots. They were nothing like his own expensive ones, but they seemed much more capable. In any case, Hux had lost his boots in the wreck and figured weathered ones were better than nothing at all.

“Execute?” Ren laughed, his face breaking into a grin that had Hux’s heart stuttering. Curse it all, Ren was handsome. “No, I don’t think so. I recognize you, you’re damn high up in the military. I can’t pass up a golden opportunity for a ransom payment like this.” Ren took a step back, extending a hand.

Hux ignored the offer and pushed himself off the deck, standing with his shoulders square and his chin held high. He knew he looked a mess, a red handprint splashed across his cheek, but he could still appear to be as put together as possible.

“We’re going to send word to your Navy that we’ve got their precious Admiral, and will wait until we have chests of gold delivered to us before we do anything to you.” Ren laughed, showing a top row of crooked teeth and a bottom row of golden ones. The gold ones weren’t straight either, Hux noted.

“What if they don’t care about me?” Hux asked, knowing full well the Navy doesn’t deal with things such as this, especially not with his father at the head. The thought of Brendol finding out he hadn’t died in the wreck and instead was being held hostage by pirates was too much of an embarassment for him to bear.

“A pretty thing like you must have some use for them.” Ren circled around Hux, his gaze predatory. Hux’s brain tripped over those words, no one had ever called him _pretty_ before. “Don’t look so shocked, you have two good eyes, don’t you?” Ren laughed once more. Hux thought that might have been a trap into saying something against Ren’s bad eye, so he clamped his mouth shut.

“You’ve got some nerve thinking I’ll succumb to your pitiful attempts at flattery.” Hux sniffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. The movement threw his balance a little, and he had to rearrange his footing to keep from stumbling over.

“I bet you’re tired from being dragged in seawater for eight hours.” Ren said, walking away from him. Against his better judgement, Hux followed. “You’ll be staying here, feel free to change your clothes and get some rest. I’ll wake you when it’s time to eat.”

“Are you sure you won’t just slaughter me in my sleep?” Hux asked, silently begging for this to be the case. It would make things so much easier if Ren did the true pirate thing and murdered him. Ren gave him an amused smile and opened the doors to the room for him.

“I’m sure. Rest, Admiral.” Ren once again lazily saluted before making an about-face and walking away, his hands settling into his coat pockets.

 

The cabin must have belonged to Ren, of that there was no doubt. The amount of gold was frankly, overwhelming. His room was situated right on the stern, much like Hux’s own had been. But where his walls had been barren, these were covered in fine paintings and golden framed mirrors. Candelabras were adorned to the walls, unlit but Hux could imagine the soft glow they would cast over the room in the evening. There were plush rugs layered over one another to cover each inch of the dark wood floors, and velvet drapes pulled together blocking the sun from peeking through into the cabin.

The bed was big enough for more than two people, Hux noticed. If he was taking residence in Ren’s quarters, where would the captain sleep? Surely not in the bed with him, Hux frowned. All things considered, Ren hadn’t been nearly as brutal to him as he had assumed. In fact, he had been quite pleasant, or at least hadn’t run him through outright. Those were thoughts to deal with later, the drowsiness taking over his critical analysis skills.

It was dark and cool, and Hux felt the soreness in his bones even stronger, with a huge plush bed waiting for him. He pushed a chair against the door handle to prevent an unwanted guest, stripped down until he was completely naked, and rummaged through the wardrobe looking for suitable clothes. Ren had said to change, and he didn’t want to spend another minute in salt-crusted linens.

He found a cream-colored shirt with a deep v-neck and tugged his arms through it, it was much too long for him so he rolled the sleeves up and tucked it into a pair of brown trousers he found, tying a sash around his waist to keep the garments on. Once he was dry and in warm clothing, he climbed into the bed, and let his mind wander to survey his position.

He had lost everything. The ship which he had designed by hand, his crew, the few trinkets he had come to care for, the only person he could consider a friend, and his uniform. He was laying in the bed of a pirate captain as his hostage, and was sure to be killed upon realization that Ren wouldn’t be getting a coin.

He was certain his father would reject the ransom note. He had always claimed Hux to be nothing more than a nuisance, and he would be completely correct if that letter reached him. On the other hand, he could try and find out how much Ren wanted and…what? Give it to him from his own personal stores? He would need to convince Ren to sail back to London and…no that wouldn’t work.

Piracy hadn’t yet spread to the shores of Europe. It stuck mostly to the Caribbean and the southern oceans, where buried treasure and gold were abundant. He closed his eyes, and tried to focus on a sound that he heard just outside the door, at the wheel. Anything that he could consider familiar to help lull him to sleep. A deep baritone was softly singing from somewhere on the ship, which wasn’t altogether unusual, but the direction of the wind had carried it to the cabin.

 _O bury me not in the deep deep sea,_  
_The words came low and mournfully,_  
_From the palled lips of a youth who lay,_  
_On his cabin couch at the close of day._

It was a sad song, a funeral song. Hux knew sailors to sing shanties while they worked, but they were usually jovial tunes, not this morose lullaby. He wondered who sang, who sounded so sad as they commandeered the ship. What helmsman would be so melancholic to sing such a thing to pass his time?

The singing stopped then, as whoever was at the helm had been called away by another pirate. Hux frowned at the loss – it really was quite the lovely singing voice –  and fell asleep to the soft rocking of the _Silencer,_ wondering what the hell Pirates were even doing just hours away from England.

 

“Admiral!” Ren knocked on the door, and Hux found himself waking up for the second time that day by pirates. He sighed, threw the covers off his body and smoothed his hair down to be as presentable as possible.

“Yes, Captain?” He asked, cracking the door open just slightly.

“He lives!” Ren called to no one, before shuffling into the room, crowding Hux’s personal space. Ren’s eyebrows slowly rose, color tinting his cheeks.

“What?” Hux snapped, pulling at the fabric and making sure he wasn’t indecently exposed.

“You look very dashing dressed in my clothes.” Ren coughed, making Hux’s own face heat.

“Careful Ren, that’s the second compliment you’ve issued me in one day. It just might go to my head.” He looked away, praying his blush didn’t spread any further.

“I’d certainly hope not, you don’t need your ego lifted any higher than it is.” Ren snorted, his voice a low rumble in his chest. Hux swallowed his response, remembering that he was technically Ren’s prisoner. He needed to be nice, or at least civil.

“How can I be of assistance?” Hux asked, and then under his breath adding, “Or did you just come round to toy with me?”

“There will be much time for playing later, Admiral. I thought you might like to have something to eat.” Ren smiled, stepping backwards through the door, giving Hux room to breathe once again.

He looked around the ship, the deck was pretty much empty. There was no one sitting up on the yards tending to the sails, no one laying on wooden swings over the side of the ship scrubbing the hull. The sun was glowing a molten orange on the waters; he had slept right through the entire day and it was apparently now time for dinner.

His stomach gave a mighty growl, and he sighed, following Ren down through the belly of the ship into the mess hall. And what a mess it was!

The dining room was essentially two long tables, with as many men crammed in as possible. They were loud, they were dirty, and Hux had to pinch his nose due to the smell of alcohol on their breaths.

The six men who had hoisted Hux out of the water were the first to stand at the sight of their captain, with the rest of the men quickly following.

“Evening everyone. I’d like you all to say hello to our new guest, Admiral Hux.” Ren presented Hux to the crew, earning only a few jeers and drunken hollering in return. “You are to treat him like you would treat me.”

“Why the hell should we do that?” One of the more drunk men asked. He subsequently burst into laughter, but he was the only one.

The entire room fell silent, it was well known among all sailors to never question the captain’s orders, at least directly to his face. Ren unsheathed his cutlass, stomped over to the man who held his head in his hands, who was giggling uncontrollably, and who very shortly after was no longer living.

Ren removed his sword from the man’s chest, and wiped the blood off on the man’s own shirt.

“Anyone else have a problem?” Ren growled, the candlelight flickering menacingly on his scarred face.

There was no reply. Satisfied, Ren gestured toward the small band in the corner to strike up some music, and conversation resumed.

“Admiral, I would like to apologize for the behavior of my fellow knights.” Nose-ring man stepped forward, under the critical eye of their captain.

“That’s quite alright, if I were you I would have been much nastier to me.” Hux admitted, earning a round of chuckles from the table. 

“This is my First Lieutenant, Brown-teeth Bradshaw. Then there’s Whale-Eye Hornsby, Goodwin Swett, Stuart 'No-Fingers' Burlingame, Dick Milton, and last but not least, Digby.” Ren introduced them all one by one, and Hux had to hold back his comments at their rather unusual names.

The Knights lived up to their titles, Bradshaw had a set of wooden teeth, Hornsby had huge eyes, and Stuart was missing all the fingers on one hand. He even pulled off his glove to show Hux, who politely nodded and shook the hand nonetheless. Armitage wasn’t much nicer of a name, he thought, but they didn’t need to know that. He was perfectly fine with being called ‘Admiral’ or just ‘Hux,’ like he was called back home.

“Pleasure to be in your acquaintance.” Hux stiffy sat next to Ren at the table as the cooks served them dinner.

He was surprised to find the food much closer to that served in the Navy than the stories suggested. It was a simple meal of salted beef, sea biscuit, sauerkraut, and bone soup. Instead of wine, Hux was given a large glass of rum; this time he couldn’t hold back his laugh.

“Is the food not to your liking?” Ren asked, sounding genuinely concerned. Hux shook his head, still smiling.

“No that’s not it.” He held up his glass which was filled so high that some of the precious alcohol was sloshing onto the table. “Rum, _really?_ ” 

“A pirate can’t enjoy his liquor?” Ren hummed, stealing a sip from Hux’s glass. That brought their faces close enough together than Hux could see the cloudy swirls of white in Ren’s bad eye. He wondered briefly if Ren was going to kiss him – he wouldn’t be opposed if he did.

“Just predictable.” Hux shrugged, stealing a bite of beef off of Ren’s plate in retaliation.

“You seem to be in a much better mood now that you’ve had your beauty sleep.” Ren remarked, making Hux narrow his eyes at him in annoyance.

“Yes well, a bed is certainly much nicer than knocking against the hull of your ship.” He replied, primly tearing pieces of bread.

Ren just laughed, and gave him a peculiar look which Hux couldn’t place. It was making him uneasy, everything about the captain did. He felt his face heat once again, and quickly looked away, turning his attention towards the band.

The music was familiar, the same jigs and tunes his own men had been whistling just the day prior. A few of the pirates had finished their food and were now dancing around with one another, linking arms and kicking their feet. Others were clapping along to the beat, the merry sound of accordions and fiddles lilting through the air.

Suddenly and without any warning, one of the pirates was punched in the face. There was a beat of silence, and then a great cheer, as more men joined in with the fight. The music played loud and even more upbeat, despite the fists that were flying. Somewhere in all the action, a gravelly voice began to sing;

 

_Oh as I was a-walking down Paradise street,_

_Timme way, hey, blow the man down._ The rest of the crewmen chimed in.

 _A Liverpool packet I chanced for to meet,_ The pirate continued as his friends beat one another to bloody messes.

_Gimme some time to blow the man down!_

 

Hux looked to Ren, who had leaned far back into his chair with his feet up, and couldn’t help but be amazed with how little Ren seemed to care that his men could quite possibly kill one another. Ren sensed this, and picked up the conversation right where it had left off only moments ago.

“It has been a very unpredictable twenty-four hour,” Ren grinned around a mouthful of bread, “I daresay I’m allowed some familiarity.” He washed the bread down with more rum, the drink staining his lips a beautiful amber color.

“You mean to say you aren’t constantly destroying Naval ships and kidnapping their officers?” Hux let just a little bit of venom slip into his tone, not caring about angering the captain. If Ren were an honest man, then he would be in no danger of a little back and forth. It had been a long time since he had someone not give a shit about his rank and treat him like a regular person.

“Can’t say that I do, no. As a matter of fact, yours was the first ship we blew to bits like that.” Ren leaned back, kicking his feet up onto the very table men were still eating off of.

“Why do I find that hard to believe.” He deadpanned, scooping another spoonful of soup into his mouth.

“I speak truth! Up until yesterday we only raided Spanish ships.” Ren proudly banged a hand against the table, and everyone in the mess hall cheered, including the men who were still rolling around on the floor.

“Spanish?” Hux sat up straight, whipping his head around to face Ren. He was lost for a moment in the man’s profile, it was so strangely beautiful it caught Hux off-guard.

“They’re the ones with all the gold, no offense to your crown and country but – ”

“How many ships have you sunk?” Hux cut him off, his throat tight.

“Twelve.” Ren replied, once again thick with pride.

“Twelve ships.” Hux repeated, nearly whispering the words. He narrowed his eyes, “Did any of them have General Organa aboard?”

That must have been the wrong thing to ask, because the room went awkwardly silent again, instruments abruptly dying off. Ren’s friendly demeanor stiffened, and Hux mentally kicked himself.

“My apologies if I struck a nerve,” Hux quickly offered, “It’s just, I was given a mission to hunt her down, before you blew my ship up.”

“Is that so?” Ren mused, tapping his fingers against the wood of the table. “Maybe I won’t return you to the Navy after all.” He finally decided before standing up.

The crew stood in salute, and Ren walked out of the room. Hux matched his pace, walking beside him with ease.

“Decided to kill me then?” He asked, his jaw set. If that was the case, then so be it. Hux was growing tired of being on this dirty ship, and didn’t know if he would be able to last much longer with its captain and his mixed signals.

“No, I think I’m going to keep you to myself.” Ren crowded him up against the mast, bracing a hand on either side of his head, caging Hux in. “If you can find her, I’ll help you kill her.” He spoke so lowly that Hux almost didn’t hear him.

“You won’t send the letter?” Hux asked, voice merely above a whisper.

“No. If you really know where she’s going to be next, I’m offering you a place with the crew.” Ren licked his lips, leaning in just enough so that Hux could feel his breath on his face.

“What benefits would that serve me?” Hux was proud of his voice for remaining steady, even as he could feel the blush rising from his neck to stain his cheeks and the tips of his ears.

“Well, considering your high rank within your military, you’ll need a proper bedroom and clothes, which I can provide. You’ll get a cut of whatever gold we take, and first choice of women when we dock on the islands.” Ren’s upper lip curled only slightly at that last bit, and blood rushed to Hux’s ears. He closed his eyes.

“I think you’ll find that _that_ won’t be necessary.” Hux leaned in just a millimeter more, certain their lips were going to brush, but found nothing but empty air.

Ren had stepped away, and when Hux opened his eyes, he saw Ren slip back into the dining hall. Clenching his fists, Hux returned to the hall as well, wanting to wash out the bitter taste in his mouth at being rejected.

“Admiral, I bet you have some great stories to tell about life on the sea, why don’t you share ‘em with us?” Digby asked, sitting flush against Hux’s side.

Hux could see Ren’s gaze darken at the contact, making his lips slide into a mean grin. He pressed himself up against Digby and nodded.

“Why not, let’s see.” Hux hummed thoughtfully, sliding an arm around Digby’s broad shoulders, playing it up on purpose. “Would you like to hear about the time I sank half the Dutch’s ships? Or how about the time I fought off an attack from a French soldier and killed him with my bare hands?”

“You sank half the Dutch’s ships?” The old pirate who had started the song asked. Hux nodded, and the pirate took off his hat to reveal a bald head, in respect.

“That I did. They called me the _Starkiller_ , because their flags looked like starbursts.”

“I’ve heard of you!” a young man no older than twenty clamored to the front of the slowly growing crowd that had surrounded Hux’s seat. Hux was filled with a sick sort of glee to see Ren’s jealous glare growing deeper. Forgetting everything, Hux made it his personal mission to rile up the captain as much as possible, and he was succeeding.

“I’m flattered,” Hux grinned, showing off his perfect teeth. He knew he caught the eye of a few men there, and it did wonders for his vanity. “It really wasn’t much, I just gave the orders. My men were the ones who fired the cannons.” He let his hand trail down the muscular arm of one of the closer pirates, and that seemed to be the breaking point for Ren.

“Don’t you all have duties to preform?” He snapped, exploding in anger. He stood up, knocking his chair over in the process and stormed over to where Hux’s small fan club had formed.

“Aye, Captain!” The crew saluted, and scrambled away.

“Something the matter, Captain?” Hux asked, hurt in his voice. “I’m just trying to get along with your crew, since I’m now a member myself.”

“You know exactly what’s the matter, you Siren.” Ren growled. Ren looked for a moment like he was going to punch Hux, slap him again like he had earlier, but instead he sharply turned away and stormed out of the mess hall, back to the cabin at the stern.

Hux followed closely behind, careful to watch his step in the dark of freshly fallen night. This wasn’t the _Finalizer,_ he had no idea of the layout, and he didn’t want to be a fool in front of the man who was going to help him defeat his greatest enemy.

Hux closed and locked the cabin door behind him, trapping them both in the room together. Ren lit the candles that were mounted on the walls, keeping his back to Hux the entire time.

“If I’m not mistaken, sirens actually get what they want.” Hux drawled, letting his accent slip in heavier than usual.

“You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.” Ren turned away, suddenly self-conscious. He hid the scarred side of his face from Hux, and curled in on himself just enough for Hux to register it. He thought Hux would think him ugly, but that was far from the truth.

“I can promise you, Ren, whatever it is will have been better than my old life.” He never realized how true those words were until he said them. He wanted to live on the ocean, he wanted to be feared and respected. More than anything, he wanted to rain destruction on Organa and her fleet.

“I am not a nice man.” Ren whispered, and Hux could have laughed at that understatement.

“Good.” He simply replied, taking a step forward, placing a hand on Ren’s chest.

Ren leaned in to give him a single kiss, but before Hux had a chance to deepen it, Ren moved away.

“Sleep well, Admiral.” He grinned, whistling the same tune that had soothed him to sleep earlier, out the door.

Hux groaned, but fell into the bed once again. The stress from the wreck had not entirely left his shoulders, and the maddening captain with his honey dripped words were fogging his head. The rum he consumed wasn’t helping either, and he pulled the soft covers up to his chin, taking up the entire lavish bed simply because he could.

Singing struck up once more, the same song from earlier, coming from the helm once again.

Hux closed his eyes and let the words wash over him like a cleansing bath,

 _O bury me not in the deep deep sea,_  
_The words came low and mournfully,_  
 _From the palled lips of a youth who lay,_  
 _On his cabin couch at the close of day,_

  
_He had wasted and pined till o'er his brow,_   
_Death's shade had slowly passed, and now_   
_Where the land and his fond loved home were nigh_   
_They had gathered around him to see him die._


	2. Polished Decks of Mirror Shine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joining the crew of a pirate ship is no easy path to take, but Hux is determined to make the best of his situation, and maybe give in to a little temptation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back everyone! Please heed the tags, there be porn ahead! I hope you enjoy this chapter! xxxx  
> (un-beta'd, any and all mistakes are my own!)

Hux woke up with a pounding headache the next morning, frantically trying to get his bearings. He startled at the feeling of silken sheets under his heated skin, rubbing a shaking hand over his eyes to scrub the sleep out of them. The sun hadn’t greeted them yet, dawn still a good hour or two away if he could read the light outside his window well – and he could.

One thing Hux’s father instilled in him as a young boy was the sense of when you’re awake, you’re awake for the day, so with a heavy sigh he swung his legs around and left the warmth of the bed.

“Bloody pirates.” He muttered under his breath as he accidentally kicked a trunk that was overflowing with gold.

He instantly was angry, the events of the past day coming back to him. Not only had he stowed away on a pirate ship, but he offered to join the crew. _What in the seven seas had he been thinking?_ There was no getting out of it now, he supposed. It was either follow through with his offer or be turned in for ransom, and he truly couldn’t have that. Better to let the Navy think him dead, he huffed.

He didn’t even want to begin to think about the horribly shameless flirting he had engaged in with the captain. He was certain the captain had just been toying with him, and he groaned, resting a hand against his aching forehead. He had no doubt already made a fool of himself, and resolved to keep that part of him far away from the reaches of spiced rum or any other inhibitor.

Needing a distraction, he didn’t bother to change into a fresh set of clothing as he exited the captain’s quarters, on the hunt for a bucket or two and some sandstone. If he were to be confined to this hell of a ship, he would make sure it lived up to his standards; and that meant doing something about the godforsaken deck. Hux didn’t need to have over twenty years of sailing experience to know the wooden planks were filthy, and he had long ago learned that if he wanted something done right, he would have to do it himself.

If the pirates had any sense of self preservation, they would have kept their deck clean, but as Hux padded barefoot onto the cold wood in the pale light of not-quite dawn, his suspicions were confirmed; mops wouldn’t cut it, he would have to holystone. If he were honest, Hux was surprised to even find the blocks on the ship, but they were near neglected buckets of saltwater most likely for this purpose. He wondered when the last time the chore had been delegated even was.

The first time he ever holystoned the deck came to mind, and as Hux got onto his knees, rolling the sleeves of his linen shirt to his elbows, he settled into the memory.

His father had yet to become Grand Admiral at that point, instead it was a wizened old man by the man of Tarkin who had an iron grip on the recently formed Royal Navy. Even to this day, Hux can recall the ice in his eyes, the sunken hollows of his cheekbones, high collar and cravat obscuring his tall neck. It was aboard Tarkin’s ship that Hux had his first taste of hard labor, much too young to even make the age minimum for a cabin boy.

“And who do we have here?” His clipped English accent was not the least bit surprised to see Armitage, before he had renounced his first name, standing proudly with his chin high.

“Armitage Hux, sir. Requesting permission to board, sir!” He hates how eager he was back then, but children never are good at reining in their excitement he supposed, wetting the sandstone in the clean bucket.

“Hux you say? Why does that name sound familiar?” Tarkin mused, one spindly hand coming to rest against the side of his face. Of course he knew Brendol, everyone did: an Irishman with a temper to match his brutality, sharp and strict. One time an elderly woman at the docks said he looked a spitting image like his father, and it was something that had bothered Hux ever since.

“I don’t know, sir.” Hux started, determined to prove himself, “But I can guarantee you’ll never see a more hardworking member of your crew.”

“Is that so?” Tarkin had raised a silver eyebrow, amusement clear in his voice. “Well in that case, I have but one question for you.”

“Anything, sir!” Armitage had squeaked out, momentarily panicking that he wouldn’t know the answer. He didn’t let this show, of course, but the fear had been there all the same.

“How well can you scrub a deck?” Tarkin asked, his thin lips pulling into just the barest hint of a smile.

“How do you feel about your reflection, sir?” Armitage had replied, and was met with his first ever nod of approval.

He had been brought on immediately after that. True to his word, Hux had polished the floors so well that Tarkin could indeed see his pleased smile reflected back to him, and he had risen the ranks on the ship ever since.

He got set to task, scrubbing away layers and layers of tar, and dirt, and grime, wearing down the sandstone blocks down to slivers. Not wanting to wake the crew, he hummed under his breath a few bars of a shanty that always made him laugh, treating the lyrics as a private joke. Not only because he was extraordinarily unattracted to women, but he always exaggerated his accent to comical proportions, mimicking the way he had heard it first on Tarkin’s ship decades ago.

After about an hour of humming, he sat back and admired his work. He was soaked to the bone, his knees were sore, and his wrists had cramped up, but the main deck all the way back to the poop deck was scrubbed well enough that it was no longer black with dried tar.

The sun had finally greeted him, just beginning to peek from underneath the horizon line. With nothing surrounding them for miles, Hux found himself surrounded by the burning orange of the sky, the waters’ surface mimicking the hue. This was what he loved about being on ships, on the water. The ropes gently swaying in the breeze, creaking floorboards and the rhythmic lap of waves against the painted hull. Not a soul was awake, or at least, if they were, they were still in their hammocks up in the sails or down below deck. Hux took a deep breath of the crisp dawn and exhaled in a quiet puff of breath.

Making sure no one would hear him, he began to sing softly the shanty he had been humming. The deck may no longer have been black, but it would take at least another two hours to get it as glassy as the sea. He stretched his limbs, picked up the buckets and carried them to the edge of the deck to begin the second pass of the sandstone and began to sing,

 _Now when I was a little boy an' so me mother told me,_  
_Way haul away, we'll haul away joe._  
_That is I didn't kiss the gals, me lips would all grow mouldy._  
_Way haul away, we'll haul away joe._  
_An’ I sailed the seas for many a year not knowin’ what I was missin’,_  
_Way haul away, we’ll haul away joe._  
_Then I sets me sails afore the gales an' started in a-kissin'._  
_Way haul away, we'll haul away joe!_  
_  
_ “Who the hell is up this early?” A deep voice growled, the slam of a wooden door following shortly after.

Hux stood up and wiped his wet hands off onto his trousers, before offering a hand to shake. He was not going to be intimidated by Ren’s men, but from the looks of it, this was not one of the Knights who had slightly warmed up to him last night. The pirate simply stared at it, and Hux wondered if he’d ever been taught manners in his life.

“Admiral Hux, pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Hux didn’t lower his hand, not until it was rejected entirely. The man didn’t say anything, and for a moment Hux thought that maybe he just hadn’t been heard.

The pirate had to be more prosthetic than flesh, with a wooden leg and both hands replaced by what looked to be special attachments. Currently they were both replicas of hands, but Hux noticed the join where the prosthetic met the man’s flesh was a distinctly different material than the hands, and so he assumed the man probably changed them out whenever the occasion sought for it. He also had an eyepatch over one eye, and was shaved bald, his visible eye sunken so deep into his head that Hux wondered if it were fake too.

“I know who _you_ are. I just figured you’d be the type to sleep in, princess.” The man spit, effectively ruining the clear shine that Hux had been working towards.

“I beg your pardon?” He bristled, truly it was too early for this, but he wasn’t even being that loud.

“Mus’ be nice, sleepin’ in the cap’n’s quarters.” The man continued, his voice warbly and sounding very much like he was going to cough something up. “I’ve got to say, we don’t treat prisoners here nearly as nicely as the cap’n is treatin’ you.”

Hux huffed and dropped the hand, but not breaking eye contact. The sun was now high enough in the sky that the rest of the crew would be awake soon, the chirp of the occasional gull an unofficial call that day had broken.

“If it makes you feel better, I want to be here just about as much as you want me here.” He sneered, curling his lip. He was just about running out of patience for this pirate, and wanted nothing more than to douse himself in seawater just to scrub the sweat away.

“Do you have any idea who you’re talking to?” The man growled, storming over to snatch Hux up by the collar. Hux only narrowed his eyes, not wanting to give this brute the privilege of seeing him riled.

“No, as you never deigned to introduce yourself.” He sniffed, immediately regretting it. The pirate was foul smelling, and Hux had to reign in every ounce of self-control to not vomit on the spot.

“You can call me Grievous.” He obviously knew the effect that his body odor had on others, and tugged Hux even closer so he could smell the rank sourness of his blackened teeth.

“And what, pray tell, is your position aboard the _Silencer_ , Grievous?” Hux ground out, eyes watering but refusing to give in.

“I’m the cook, so you best watch your attitude or else you’ll find somethin’ none too pretty in your breakfast.” Grievous threw Hux down onto the ground, landing him right in the bucket of dirty water that he used to wash the sandstone. It sloshed over the deck as Grievous stomped away to the kitchens, making Hux’s face heat in anger.

He refused to lose his composure, and instead of chucking the heavy block of sandstone at the old pirate’s head, he picked up the buckets and dumped the rest of the dirty water overboard before finding a mop to brush away the dirty water. If he acted quickly enough, it wouldn’t have a chance to settle into the woodgrain, so he picked up his pace and made it from one end of the quarterdeck to the other, wiping a freckled arm across his forehead.

Once activity began to stir up in the hammocks, Hux retreated to Ren’s quarters, wanting to change out of his soaking clothes and possibly locate a razor to remove the stubble that had accumulated over the past day. Just because he was a traitor to the Royal Navy didn’t mean he had to look like one.

He slipped into the dark cabin, and immediately began peeling his clothing off, tossing each article into an empty barrel, every piece landing with a wet slap. He would find some way to wash them later. He had just stepped out of his underwear when he heard a shift coming from the bed.

“You’re bold, d’ya know that?” A sleepy Ren announced himself, and Hux scrambled to find something to cover himself with.

“Jesus, Ren!” He yanked at the blanket that was covering the captain, tugging it off his person to reveal Ren’s own naked body.

“Hey!” Ren reached out and grabbed a corner of the blanket back, the two of them engaging in a not so friendly game of tug-o-war.

Ren won out, and Hux went toppling over onto the bed, pushing himself as far away from Ren as possible while the captain situated himself back under the blanket.

“What are you doing in here?” Hux finally demanded, once his heart had removed itself from his throat.

“This is my room,” Ren gave him a funny sort of look. “Where would you like me to be?” He asked, pitching his voice low, and winking with his good eye. Hux rolled his eyes and swatted at the captain’s exposed calf.

“Outside! Wherever you were when I was asleep. Literally anywhere else.” He listed on his fingers, causing Ren to laugh. He hadn’t meant to be funny, smacking Ren’s leg once more, this time with a little more force to show he wasn’t playing around.

“I can have you thrown overboard you know.” Ren mused, sitting up and letting the blanket fall around his waist, revealing a rippling eight-pack and huge pectoral muscles. A smattering of scars and moles decorated his perfect body, and Hux had to discreetly swallow.

“Then why don’t you?” Hux shot back, crossing his arms over his much less impressive chest.

“Because today you and I are going to plan course for the attack on Organa’s ship.” Ren replied, shifting to bring himself closer to Hux.

As much as he wanted to move away, Hux didn’t. There was something magnetic about this roguish man with his uneven good looks, and his uncanny kindness. Hux wanted to be wanted, he could very easily get drunk off the look in Ren’s eye, the look that spoke of possession and lust. He let Ren wrap his arms around his waist, let himself be pulled down to lay next to the captain. Ren was still under the covers, and Hux was now on top of them, but they were pressed against one another enough for Hux to feel the hard press of morning wood against his thigh.

No, he decided. He couldn’t risk it. He couldn’t risk Ren chewing him up and spitting him out again, his mind racing. What if all of this was simply a ruse, a horrible trick to sully his rank and reputation, or whatever was left of it?

“Ren, I must have you know,” he began, heart thrumming wildly in his chest. “My actions last night were not in entirely sober mind.” His resolve was diminishing, almost entirely gone by the time Ren slid a hand into Hux’s sweat damp hair. He leaned into the touch, baring his neck just slightly.

“Hmm, so you hate me for being a vile, dirty pirate then?” Ren asked, pressing his lips to Hux’s jugular, a thrill of danger making the hairs on his nape stand up.

“Yes. That’s exactly right.” Hux breathed, letting his eyes slip closed. He had done some hard work out there on the deck, he felt he could do with a small reward such as this. He would absolutely stop after this one moment of weakness. “You’re a vile, dirty pirate, and I want nothing to do with you.” He lied, hating himself for knowing it to be untrue.

“Then why did you come barging into my quarters stripping down like that?” Ren chuckled, trailing the hand that wasn’t currently entangled in Hux’s copper locks up and down his side. Hux shivered, and Ren gave him a predatory smile.

“Because I just spent hours scrubbing this ship of yours. It’s filthy, just like you are.” Hux quipped, arching into the touch.

“You did what?” Ren asked, abruptly pulling away. He sat up, and Hux grew self-conscious slightly, under his heavy gaze.

The mood was ruined, and Hux silently was glad for it. He cursed his attraction to Ren and almost giving in to the temptation that Ren was offering him. He couldn’t help but feel guilty over wanting to bed the man that sank his ship and killed his entire crew. It was that thought that brought a darkness to his own glare, and he got out of the bed, storming over to the wardrobe where he found clean clothes the day before.

“Oh please tell me you didn’t _like_ it being dirty. I swear, Ren if you seriously think that – ” 

“I’d like to kiss you again.” Ren cut him off, crowding him from behind. He was warm from the bed, and still very naked, pressing himself up against Hux’s bare back.

He turned around sharply, angry with the universe for making Ren taller than him as he tipped his chin up to look Ren straight in the eye.

“I don’t think I’ll allow it.” Hux used his best authoritative voice, and Ren acquiesced.

“What will you allow?” He asked, his voice genuine.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Hux smirked.

Ren stepped away, and reached around him to open the wardrobe. Hux was glad that neither of them had looked further south than their waists, Hux wasn’t prepared to see whatever Ren was packing just yet. It was too early for all of this, really, he hadn’t even had breakfast.

He gratefully accepted clothes, nothing at all like what he wore yesterday. These were the garb of a captain, and Hux held up the jacket with a raised eyebrow.

“If you want to look like a buccaneer than by all means, do.” Ren replied with a shrug. “I just thought you’d like something a little nicer. Admiral and all.”

“That’s quite gracious of you.” Hux pulled the velvet jacket over his silk shirt, doing up the silver buttons and admiring the embroidery work on them. He wondered where a pirate got such extravagant clothing as he tied up his cravat, also silk.  

“I have to admit, I really do like seeing you in my clothing.” Ren admitted, drinking in the sight of Hux’s lean lines wrapped up in his finery.

“Are you going to compliment me every day I’m aboard your ship?” Hux asked, amused. They were too close again, and Ren must have sensed this because he moved away to give Hux space to breathe.

“Unless you tell me to stop, probably.” Ren replied, tilting his head ever so slightly. “Do you want me to stop?”

“No, I don’t think so. It does wonders for my confidence.” Hux pretended to think about it for a moment before giving his answer.

“As if you needed any more confidence.” Ren said, rolling his eyes.

Hux smiled, and shrugged into the rest of clothing. He matched Ren all too well, in the black getup. The fabrics were luxurious, but despite that, they were once again too big for Hux and it showed. His trousers were too wide, he simply didn’t have the thickness in his torso to fill out the waistband. The jacket and shirt were a similar case, with room for muscles that he didn’t possess.

“We’re going to be making port in New Providence in a few days, it’s about halfway from where we picked you up to the West Indies. We can get you new clothing there.” Ren offered, making Hux frown.

“Why are we sailing to the West Indies?” He asked, knowing for a fact that General Organa’s ship is much further south.

“I told you before, we’re on the hunt for Spanish ships. They’re the ones with all the gold, and there are some captains I have a bone to pick with. They’re all in the Caribbean.” Ren pulled his shirt over his head, before taking an ivory and bristle brush to his hair. Hux was nearly entranced by the way the tangles disappeared, leaving behind glossy waves. Ren caught Hux staring and held the brush out to him, he gratefully took it and slicked his hair back.

“If it’s Spanish ships you’re looking for, what were you doing off the coast of England to begin with?” He gave the brush back to Ren, and sat on the bed while he watched the captain lace up his boots.

“I had commissioned this ship from boat wrights in France. The crew and I were going to head West straight away, but then we heard all the buzz about your _HMS Finalizer_.” Ren grinned, a devilish glint in his eye.

“Thought you would see what there is to steal before you left Europe?” Hux mused, the sting of his loss still there, a thorn in his side. He wondered if it would ever lessen. Probably not, he thought, but there were worse things.

“Exactly. Besides, there was a storm coming, and what better way than to check if the _Silencer_ was as good as the builders said?” Ren’s grin widened, making Hux remember something.

“I’ve been meaning to ask about that. How the hell do you navigate storms so well?” He wanted to know, if for no other reason than to be prepared for the future.

“My father was a merchant sailor, a smuggler. He never spent a full day on dry land if he could help it, always in his dingy ship that was held together by glue and willpower. He taught me the secrets of storms, and how to use them to my advantage.” Ren grabbed his cap from a hook on the wall, and Hux stood, following him out of the cabin and onto the deck.

The rest of the pirates were fully awake by now, the daily chores being set up for completion after breakfast. Carpenters and coopers were busy hauling lumber this way and that, gunners with the help of powder monkeys were pushing crates of cannon balls down below deck to ready the guns, dozens of able bodied sailors were checking the ties and knots in the ropes of the sails, and various cabin boys were already running messages to the Knights.

“Did he know you were going to grow up to be a fearsome pirate captain?” Hux asked, taking in the sight of so many people all under Ren’s command. Ren laughed, causing a few of the mates to look at him in confusion, especially when they saw just whom he was laughing with.

“No, he wanted me to take over his trading business. Though the way he swindled people, one could say he was no better than a pirate himself.” Ren scoffed, making Hux smile.

“I must admit, I’m impressed. The way you blended in with the storm caught me completely by surprise.” Hux chuckled, finding that he was warming up to the captain far quicker than he had anticipated. Ren was charming, that was certain.

“Thank you.” Ren came to a stop, giving Hux that weird look again. He wanted to frown, to ask what was going on in Ren’s head, because it wasn’t an expression that Hux could place, and it unnerved him. Hux realized this was the first direct compliment or of praise he had given Ren, and it probably just come as a surprise.

“Did you happen to bring back anything from my ship?” He cleared his throat, looking around the deck to avoid a blush creeping up to his cheeks. “Any crates or trunks? I’m curious to see what your men considered valuable.”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, after breakfast I’ll bring you to the stores. If there’s anything that belongs to you, you’re more than welcome to keep it.” Ren smiled. Hux rolled his eyes once more, the absurdity of everything never failing to amaze him.

“How kind of you.” He deadpanned, making Ren laugh boisterously once more.

 

Breakfast consisted of rum and porridge, two things that Hux truly didn’t think should ever go together. The dining hall was once again crammed full of pirates, but this time Hux was greeted by many of them. Ren’s Knights all welcomed their captain and Hux to their table, the smell of alcohol already on their breath.

“Good mornin’ cap’n!” Old Whale-Eye smiled, he clearly was the only morning person among the Knights, the other five men grumbling their greetings.  

“Good morning to you too, Hornsby. How were the boys last night?” Ren grabbed bowls for both himself and Hux, and despite the uneven consistency of it, Hux was grateful for food.

“Mighty fine, sir. A few of the crew were none too pleased about your Admiral here killin’ off Flash, Shiv, Squawk, and Lucky, but they got over it.” Whale-Eye responded before taking a gulp of rum, most of it ending up in his beard.

“What an ironic name.” Hux said, eliciting a round of chuckles.

“Every time we board a ship is a risk, you all know that. Did someone say a prayer?” Ren sighed, scooping porridge into his mouth. Hux grimaced at the loud slurp, and decided that if Ren didn’t abandon him on the island they would be arriving at that evening, he would have a serious talk with him about manners.

“Aye sir, yesterday mornin’. We divvied up their personals as well.” Swett replied.

“Good. We’ll see if we can pick up some men to replace them when we get to Nassau tonight.” He slurped more porridge and chased it with the liquor. Hux had to force his face to relax, lest he get a headache from his frown.

He finished his bowl of oats before anyone else, content to just sit at the table and listen in on various conversations. A few of the sailors were planning their visit to the punch house, boasting about how many women they had already claimed to bed. Hux couldn’t help but smile, it seemed one thing never changed – sailors were an insatiable bunch.

“Captain, did you see the deck? She sparkles whenever the light hits her.” Digby piped up, pulling Hux out of his eavesdropping.

“I did notice, you can thank the Admiral for that too.” Ren turned to look at Hux with a grin, bottom row of gold teeth shining at him. Hux felt his stomach do flips, and he was positive that this time it had nothing to do with the rum.

“It is my belief that the best ships are clean ships.” Hux said simply, all the Knights frowning in confusion as if the prospect of a clean ship were foreign to them. Hux had a lot of work to do to whip these men into shape, he thought.

“I’m going to be discussing many a thing with our Admiral after breakfast, ship maintenance included. Ask around for me and find out if there are any suggestions from the crew on what they want when we dock in Nassau.” Ren ordered, putting his hat back on and standing. Hux followed suit, as did the Knights, out of respect for their leader.

“Aye sir!” They all saluted, before sitting back down.

“Admiral, would you like to go back to the kitchens and meet the chef?” Ren gestured to the door that separated the mess hall from above deck, but Hux’s face twitched into a scowl.

“I’m afraid I’ve already had the displeasure.” He replied, annoyed with his treatment. If this had been his ship, Hux would have the old man cat-o’-nine-tailed in front of the entire crew for that level of insubordination.

“Grievous can be a hard ass, but then again, so are half the men.” Ren’s tone was apologetic, but Hux didn’t care. He had worked too hard for too long in his career to be tossed aside into dirty water like that.

“If the Cap’n here didn’t think you a valuable member of the crew, you would have been killed a long time ago.” Bradshaw nodded from the table, before bursting into laughter.

“Well that’s good to know.” Hux replied dryly.

Ren just laughed and left the mess hall, Hux right behind him.

 

They walked back towards the stern, however they bypassed Ren’s private quarters, instead heading towards what looked like a small conference room back in London. There was nothing but maps pinned onto the walls of the room, from full atlases of the known world, to area specific charts. The number of Caribbean and Mediterranean maps vastly outweighed that of Europe, confirming Hux’s thoughts that piracy hadn’t yet spread to them yet.

The most impressive piece of furniture had to be the table set directly in the middle of the room. It had to be over ten feet long, with plush red velvet lined chairs circled around it. There were books and more maps stacked on the fine bubinga wood, as well as candles and mugs filled with ale.

“Normally when we bring a prisoner on board, I torture them for hours.” Ren said, just to cut the quiet. It was an interesting opener, but not at all surprising. He was a pirate after all.

“I can imagine as much.” Hux replied, already leafing through the papers laid out on the table.

“I had my men pull some maps for us, if you find anything wrong with them, or have suggestions for routes, please tell me.” Ren hovered near a dresser and lit up a tobacco pipe, taking a few breaths of it before handing it to Hux.

“Where did you get all of these?” Hux asked, just a hint of awe in his voice as he surveyed the huge collection of captain’s logs, charts, and other records.

“Same way we get most everything; pillaging and plundering is a very lucrative business.” Ren winked. Hux blew smoke in his face, relishing the burn the tobacco gave his lungs.

“From what the Grand Admiral told me, Organa’s ship is most likely on the West Coast of South America. The Spanish have been colonizing like madmen down there. We heard from reliable sources that she was on route to Ciudad de los Reyes.” Hux sat down at the head of the table, Ren moving to stand behind him.

“What do you suggest we do?” He asked, once again sounding too genuine for his own good. He seemed so young, not nearly old enough to have command of a vessel such as this, what had to be the largest ship in the world.

“I think after a couple nights at port, we set sail for Peru and gather intelligence. If she actually is there, we engage in ruse de guerre, wait for the right moment, and ambush.” Hux replied. He was glad Ren didn’t laugh at his awful pronunciation, his accent getting in the way and warping the vowels.

“There are always other ships at Nassau, someone is bound to know when she’s coming in.” Ren agreed, stepping away from looking over Hux’s shoulder.

“I can go over the schematics of her ship, if it’ll be any help.” Hux offered, not knowing how much intelligence they had on Organa’s vessel.

“You know _Tantive IV_?” Ren sounded surprised.

“Yes, it was in the memo that we received just before I boarded the _Finalizer._ ” He smirked, clearly Ren didn’t know that much about the Royal Navy and what they kept tabs on. “ _Tantive IV_ is a patache, thankfully, not a warship. That means no guns, which works well to our advantage. Two masts, four standard linen-cloth sails. Named as such because of how lightweight it is, it is also exceedingly fast.”

“What is she doing on a ship with no guns?” Ren frowned, smoke billowing from his nostrils like some great dragon. Hux had to look away, he found the motion to be more attractive than he cared to admit.

“Her trip is a diplomatic one, she isn’t expecting any attack. All the fighting is being done closer to Spain, not in South America.” Hux answered. It had been the reason why he was so ready to go after her himself, she would be a sitting duck.

“I believe we have the right colors for a ruse de guerre, but do you think she’ll believe it?” Ren mused.

“We don’t need her to believe it, we just need her to let us get close enough to board.” Hux pointed out. Too many ships were pulling the same tactics, but this was one he hadn’t seen yet. It would never have worked on such a publicly known ship like the _Finalizer,_ but on one such as this, they had a chance.

“I like you more and more with each passing moment we spend together.” Ren grinned, stepping close to Hux again.

“Is that supposed to be a good thing?” Hux hummed, standing and moving closer to where Ren was.

“Stay with me when we pull to port.” Ren whispered, placing a hand on Hux’s cheek. Instantly he felt his face heat in blush, but didn’t pull away.

“What if I say no?” He whispered back, not daring to be heard by the men just outside the door going about their chores.

“Would you rather spend the evening surrounded by drunken bilge rats and whores?” Ren asked, calling on Hux’s bluff.

“Maybe I would.” Hux bit his lip and leaned in just slightly, allowing himself one kiss to quell this maddening desire that flared up whenever he was in close contact with the captain.

Before their lips could meet, there was a loud crash that came from beyond the door, followed by a group of shouts and cheers. Someone knocked on the door rapidly, and Hux could see darkness cloud Ren’s good eye.

“What?” He barked, none too friendly.

“Cap’n sir! There’s a quarrel on the quarterdeck!” A young voice piped up.

“Shit.” Ren breathed, dropping his hand and grabbing his cutlass from its holster. He gave Hux an apologetic frown, to which Hux just smiled understandably. “I’ll be right there.” He called, righting his clothing and kicking the door open.

Hux quickly followed behind Ren as he asserted his dominance as captain and stormed up to the quarterdeck. Hux was amazed to see the switch flipped, he was no longer the soft spoken and charming man Hux had just been around, he was a snarling fearsome beast. The wind from the ocean whipped his hair around menacingly, and the line of his shoulders were tense enough to snap a mast if he directed the power there.

It truly was a brawl, and not a friendly one like that had broken out at dinner the night prior. There was blood on the deck, and Hux inwardly sighed, the blatant disregard for the sanitization of the ship just one more item to be added to the list of things they needed to work on.

There were five men in the fray, all tumbling around on the floor, knocking over barrels and crates like bulls in a china shop. They didn’t have any weapons out except their fists, beating one another bloody. A circle of crew surrounded them, simply watching. Some were taking bets on who would be victorious, but the satchels of gold pieces were quickly hidden away at the sight of their captain.

The men froze mid-punch, and Hux wanted to laugh at their positioning. It looked like a painting, with the way the men were entangled with one other, some grabbing others by their bandanas, others poised to bite ankles.

“Who would like to explain to me what the devil you all are doing?” Ren snarled, breaking the trance. The men collapsed onto one another, and began talking at once.

“He said that – ”

“If _you_ hadn’t – ”

“Spoke ill of me – ”

“I would ne’er – ”

“You filthy rat – ”

“Enough!” Ren snapped, the volume of his voice carrying to silence the entire ship.

He sauntered around the circle of the pirates who had been eagerly watching, and came in front of one of the powder monkeys.

“Goji, what happened?”

“Well you see, cap’n,” The boy piped up, happy to be of assistance, “Tucker and Fiver were havin’ a laugh about meetin’ the women at the punch house. Wooley overheard, and made a comment insinuatin’ that one of the missus was ‘is mum. Fiver tried to hold ‘im back, but Tucker dragged ‘im out the hall and up here to give him a proper punch! Stripe and Nax came from the crowsnest to help Tucker, considerin’ Nax’s mum _is_ a missus an’ all that, then you arrived, sir.”

Hux had to admit, the child was quite cute in his enthusiasm. He acted out each swing of the fight with his own tiny fists, his little English accent high pitched and filled with joy. Ren absorbed this information and nodded, patting the boy on the head.

“Thank you, Goji.” Ren nodded in appreciation to the boy, who happily stepped back into line.

“Sir, we’re awful sorry – ” Fiver started, but Ren held his cutlass dangerously close to the pirate’s throat, silencing him.

“Shut up, I don’t want to hear it. Look at the mess you’ve caused.” Ren snarled. He looked at Hux for a moment, before turning to his crew. “The five of you will spend the rest of the day cleaning this up. I want these boards polished, you hear me?” He shouted, the vein in his neck bulging.

“Aye, cap’n.” They replied in chorus.

“Get out of me sight.” Ren lowered his sword, and turned away, Hux following closely on his heels.

The five men scrambled, slipping on their own blood as they raced for the mops and buckets that Hux himself had put up only hours prior.

“For a moment there I thought you were going to stab the fellow.” Hux said as they went to the helm.

“So did I.” Ren replied, his voice still in that deep menacing growl, not yet out of captain mode.

“Do you often kill your crew?” He asked, remembering the old pirate he had run through just the night prior. To his surprise, Ren chuckled.

“Only when they embarrass me.” He said, climbing the steps to the wheel.

“I should do well to remember that.” Hux smiled, but only barely. It wouldn’t do to have the men see him as anything other than stone faced.

“How would you have handled that?” Ren turned to him, curiosity getting the better of him. Hux’s expression darkened, thinking of Grievous and how he wanted nothing more than to make the man pay.

“Personally, I would have them publicly shamed and flogged. If one of the men were acting too big for his boots, he’d be cut across his bare arse instead of his back.” Hux replied smoothly, his voice cold.

“The Navy allows that?” Ren’s eyebrows shot up.

“Oh yes. Typically, we’d assemble the entire company. I’d call ‘all hands on deck to witness punishment,’ and the offending sailor was be tied up to a grating. Fifty cuts for every offence. I think the most I ever delivered was one hundred and fifty.” Hux mused, it had been quite the day – he caught one of the sailors stealing from him, selling his possessions, and then lying about it. No one ever touched one of his things again after that.

“We just toss people overboard.” Ren shrugged, as if that were somehow less barbaric.

“Ah, but then you’re down one man.” Hux pointed out, making Ren smile.

“There is never a shortage of men to board a pirate crew, just as there is never a shortage of sailors.” He pointed out, and Hux had to agree.

 

* * *

 

Days passed, and Hux made it a point to spend the time by himself. Ren was busy commandeering his crew, only checking in with Hux during meal times and at night, before leaving the cabin so Hux could sleep in privacy. Hux learned – through spying and asking others – that Ren preferred to take the night watch himself. Despite his bad eye, he had impeccable night vision, the light low enough for Ren to see things clearly. Each morning Ren would return around dawn to crash for an hour or two before his official captain duties had to be resumed for the day.

Hux needed to familiarize himself with the _Silencer_ much in the same way that he had done on the _Finalizer_ , and he was already at a disadvantage for not having designed the vessel. Reluctantly, he did give the ship credit for its magnificence. The French knew how to build all right, that Hux was sure of.

He inspected each inch of the ship, from the way the ropes were braided to the massive iron cannons that were nestled in the gun deck below. He didn’t speak to anyone, and no one spoke to him, although the whispers and murmurs that cropped up when he passed by couldn’t be ignored. It was understandable, he supposed, for the men to gossip. An exiled Irishman dressed in captain’s garb and all that.

He had climbed the nets and ropes that were wound around the masts, taking his time to inspect the yards and the pirate’s rigging. The view from up there was breathtaking, nothing but rich sapphire of the ocean below him, and the cloudless sky above. He wondered if his father already thought him dead, if there had been a funeral. At the very least maybe there could have been some words spoken in his honor, but he doubted it. Brendol never was a very sentimental man.

“Today’s the day we’re to dock in New Providence,” Ren said at the breakfast table, being met with cheers and songs of beautiful ladies.

Hux finished his porridge and listened to the singing, humming along but never openly joining them. He left the mess hall a few minutes before Ren, or any of the others did; he was a quick eater and always finished before them, despite their horrid slurping.

Heading above deck, he walked the length of the ship, moving towards the prow. He was met with strange looks as he began to climb, sitting on the very edge of the wooden point. He planted himself right where the line for the foremast hooked to the prow, letting his legs dangle freely on either side. Hux closed his eyes and let his body move with the rocking of the ship, a gentle splash of salted water kissing his boots. The figurehead was a beautifully carved mermaid, polished black wood like the rest of the ship.

Hux had never liked the mythology of mermaids, felt they were given too bad of a reputation in the mythological sense. They were always painted as seductresses, luring sailors to a watery grave with their beauty and charm, and he thought that couldn’t be very fair to the mermaids. In the British tradition, they were bad omens, either delivering news of foreboding or provoking it themselves. Hux liked to think that if mermaids did exist, they had their own agendas and wouldn’t be too occupied with men who blow each other up and sink monstrous wooden hulls into their homes.

With no one else around, he let himself feel just a hint of sadness for his crew, wondering if any of them had managed to avoid drowning in the storm. He thought of the cabin boys, barely out of childhood, pinned to the bottom of the sea by cannons or masts. He thought of Thanisson, perishing on his first military mission, and of Mitaka, passing before he could be promoted to commander. He tried to remember the song Ren had been singing, thinking that if ever there were a time for a funeral, it was now. The pirates had already held their own for their deceased crew-mates, it was fair he be given time for the same.

He removed his hat, pressing it close to his chest, closed his eyes and let the breeze cool his face, blaming the stinging in his eyes on the salty spray as he let the wind carry his Irish lilt away,

 _O bury me not in the deep deep sea,_ _  
The words came low and mournfully,_  
_From the palled lips of a youth who lay,_  
_On his cabin couch at the close of day,_

 _  
He had wasted and pined till o'er his brow,_ _  
Death's shade had slowly passed, and now_ _  
Where the land and his fond loved home were nigh_  
_They had gathered around him to see him die._

That was all he could remember, but he sang it again just the same, just because he could.

“You have a very nice voice, why don’t you join in on the singing?” Ren spoke up, climbing to sit behind Hux.

“It’s rude to interrupt one’s privacy.” Hux replied, letting go of the line, and leaning back into Ren’s embrace. There was no room to sit side by side as they were sitting on an incredibly narrow stretch of wood, but Ren made up for it by placing his chin on Hux’s shoulder.

This was the first time they had been alone in a week. Hux found himself missing the captain’s company more than he had cared to admit; it was getting boring and lonely sleeping by himself every night.

“Would you like to know the next part?” Ren asked, voice soft. Hux nodded, and felt Ren sit up straight so the air could flow from his windpipe freely as he sang.

 

 _O bury me not in the deep deep sea,_  
_Where the billowing shroud will swell o'er me,_  
_Where no light will break through the dark cold wave,_  
_And no sun beam rest upon my grave,_

 _It matters not, I have often been told_  
_Where the body shall lie when the heart is cold,_  
_Yet grant, O grant this boon to me,_  
_O bury me not in the deep deep sea._

Hux was surprised to find tears trailing down his cheeks, slipping down the bridge of his nose and dropping onto his jacket. The velvet didn’t readily absorb the moisture, he wiped the beads away with his hand.

“I’m sorry about your crew.” Ren said softly, placing his chin back on Hux’s shoulder.

“What made you decide to become a pirate?” Hux asked, his gaze still cast out to the water ahead of them.

“I felt like I didn’t belong anywhere else.” He replied. They were quiet for a long time, listening to the splitting of the water and the gulls’ cry overhead. “What made you want to become an admiral?” He asked finally, making Hux smile sadly.

“I didn’t.” Hux answered truthfully. “I just wanted to be on the sea.”

“May I kiss you now?” Ren asked, voice just above a whisper.

“Yes, you may.” Hux leaned in, letting his lips catch on Ren’s perfectly plump ones.

Ren tilted his head just so, and deepened the kiss. It was a difficult angle to manage, with Hux sitting in front of him, so they broke away to allow Hux to maneuver himself so they could face one another. He knew this probably was a bad idea, dangerous if not stupid. With Ren’s hands holding him securely around the waist like they were, he couldn’t help but feel protected.

Hux let his arms loop around Ren’s neck, and hummed happily into his mouth. He couldn’t remember the last time someone kissed him like this, someone he hadn’t hired at some underground whore house. He wasn’t even sure if he had _had_ a kiss like this, stolen in a moment of vulnerability. Maybe Ren was genuine, if he still wanted to kiss Hux and hold him close with his face all tear tracked and blotchy like it was sure to be.

Ren’s hand moved up to slide into Hux’s hair, and he held him there for a moment before pulling away to consider his eyes. Hux saw his reflection in the eddy of milky white, and had to look away in embarrassment. Ren just smiled and tilted Hux’s head back to face him once more, pressing in and stealing a chaste kiss. Hux stole one back.

Behind them on the deck, the crew had all rushed to the sides of the ship, arms extended. The pirates were excited about something, and it didn’t take long to see what. Jumping in the waves were a pod of bottlenose dolphins, and despite his better judgement, Hux let his face split into a grin.

“Look, that’s a good sign.” Ren smiled, stunned by Hux’s beauty. It was the first time Hux had smiled so fully in front of him, for him.

“What will we do once we kill her?” Hux asked, not needing to clarify who he meant. The dolphins were a good omen, they were going to be successful.

“I don’t know.” Ren leaned in once again, lips searching for Hux’s own. “Stay with me tonight.” Ren asked, and this time, Hux was all too inclined to agree.

“Okay.” He smiled against Ren’s lips, the two of them pulling away to laugh at the men’s reactions to the dolphins below.

The dolphins followed them the entire way to the port, mostly due to the fact that the pirates kept throwing salted fish overboard for them to eat. Hux and Ren had climbed down from the prow, content to wander about the deck and watch the mammals play in the waves.

Hux knew they had reached the Caribbean once the water shifted from the dark blue of deep waters to the more tropical teal and island dotted sea. The presence of birds grew exponentially, one lone gull turned into an entire flock of fregatidae and white-tailed tropicbirds. The eagerly perched on the yards and dotted their masts, but Hux wasn’t concerned with them. The sails were too thick for beaks to pierce, there could be no harm done to the ship aside from some droppings that would need to be scrubbed away later.

“Land ho!” The barrelman called, pointing to a speck of white and green that had to be the island.

“Aye, there she is – New Providence.” Bradshaw grinned, moving to step next to the two of them.

“We made it ahead of schedule.” Hux noted, the sun still hanging in the sky. It was low, but it hadn’t yet set. Hux truly didn’t think they would get there until nightfall at the very least.

“There is no better man for the helm of my ship than Dick Milton.” Ren clapped a hand on the back of his Knight, the man beaming with pride in return.

Ren stepped away and cupped his hands around his mouth, calling the attention of about a hundred or so pirates.

“All hands on deck!” He shouted, the command the easiest for assembling the crew.

“All hands on deck!” Bradshaw echoed. Between the two of them, all the men heard and it only took a matter of minutes for everyone to climb up or down to get to the deck.

“All right you mangy mutts,” Ren grinned, no trace of malice in his voice while he addressed the pirates, “We’ll be staying in Nassau for a couple of nights. I’ve asked my Knights to survey what you’d all like for me to pick up, and I’ll do my best to meet everyone’s requests. You’re all free to spend your time however you’d like,” He paused due to the pleased murmur that swept through the crowd “…Provided you get your daily chores done.”

A slight groan rose, causing Ren to laugh. He gave them a look of slight expectation, and they all got the hint and saluted.

“Aye, captain!” They rang out in unison.

“When was the last time the _Silencer_ underwent a careening?” Hux asked, voice loud and clear so anyone could give an answer. Strangely, none was forthcoming.

“I don’t think she has.” Ren replied, his brow furrowed slightly. Hux blinked in surprise, how did the captain of a ship not know something as important at _that?_

“The boatwrights didn’t tell you when you picked her up from harbor?” He asked, concerned. If they hadn’t told Ren about the careening schedule, then what else could they have withheld from him?

“No, they didn’t.” Ren scowled. Hux knew the anger wasn’t directed at him, but still he _tsk’d_.

“Well who knows how long it’s been sitting in water then! I think we should take advantage of a safe port and do it while we’re here. It doesn’t have to be today, but it should be done before we leave.” He told Ren matter of factly. He was almost afraid to see the amount of grass and barnacles that had adhered themselves to the hull beneath the waterline.

“Who do you think you are, giving me orders?” Ren teased, his lips coming up in a crooked smile.

“I’m an Admiral.” Hux said, fully aware the entire crew was watching. They were shocked that Ren allowed Hux to speak to him that way, even more so when Ren just chuckled and shook his head in response.

“You heard the Admiral, before we leave we’ll bring the ship to shore and have her scrubbed top to bottom.” Ren said to his crew, and they hesitantly nodded.

“Aye, cap’n.” They replied, standing at attention.

“Dismissed.” Ren waved them away, and the men all dispersed below deck to ready their belongings for the vacation at port.

No doubt the men would pool together their shares of gold for nights spent at brothels and taverns, but Hux wondered if there were sweethearts any of them would write to, or send gifts towards. He didn’t have anyone waiting back home to hear from him, but he might take advantage of the postal service either way, purchasing a newspaper to catch up with the world sounded like a dream.

Hux sat back and watched as Ren commanded the anchor to be dropped, the procedure as familiar as the one used in the Navy.

“Port or starboard, sir?” A deck officer asked, ready to call belay the message to the boys below deck.

“Starboard.” Ren replied.

“Lettin’ go, cap’n!” The deck officer called back, and Hux could hear the clink of the shackles being lowered.

He could feel the ship slow as the anchor settled in the soft sand below them, dragging along the seabed before coming to a nice and steady stop. They were far out enough that they would need the utility boats to row ashore, so Hux moved in the direction of where they were kept.

In the passage of time it took for the Silencer to fully dock, the pirates had begun the process of hoisting the boat up and over the side of the ship, suspended by cables and wires. Ren stepped in first, followed by Hux, and then the Knights. Hux was glad to be among the first group of passengers to shore, he wanted a bath  _desperately._

Nassau was bustling with pirate activity, the _Silencer_ not the only ship that had made harbor. Men and women alike were walking up and down the shore, talking amongst themselves and laughing over inside jokes. Flags and banners waved in the wind, a colorful welcoming to buccaneers from all over. Small buildings and tents were set up, some had people playing music inside them, others were little shops and trading posts where folks could buy and sell their wares.

Above all that, Hux was infatuated with how _green_ everything was. The ferns and huge leafed plants sprang from sandy soil and in some places grew taller than he was. Gorgeous red flowers adorned bushes and were strung up into chains that decorated the buildings. Young boys tried their best at climbing the trunks of palm trees, hoping to grab ripe and furry coconuts to share with each other. Hux was entranced, he could see why this was such a popular destination.

“Knights, go ahead and get the rest of the crew. The Admiral and I will be reserving rooms at the inns.” Ren addressed his crew without looking at them, instead focusing his gaze on the light blush that spread across Hux’s cheeks.

The Knights all saluted and returned to the utility boat, stopping and greeting old friends along the way.

“Where is this inn that you speak of?” Hux asked, a nervous smile gracing his lips.

“Just up a hill, I know the owner, we’ll get the best suite they have.” Ren smiled back, and Hux was relieved to see him equally nervous.

“What if someone’s already reserved it?” Hux frowned, not wanting to get his hopes up. He figured pirates weren’t entirely diplomatic, and didn’t want a sword fight to break out over who got to sleep in which room.

“It’s on hold for me year-round, no one else is allowed to have it.” Ren proudly replied, causing Hux to scoff; of _course_ he had a private suite.

“Well in that case, I’ll follow your lead.” Hux gestured, and true to his word, followed Ren up a hill that was densely packed with sweet smelling flowers and palms.

 

Ren hadn’t been lying, the entire staff brightened when they saw the captain strut through the French style double doors. They rushed over to him and gave a brief curtsy, and he was friendly in his manner towards them. Hux found himself only slightly jealous, but reigned in the emotion. He didn’t want to make it obvious that he had a…thing, with Ren, not knowing the punishments for such an offense on this island.

“Evening love,” Ren smiled and kissed the cheek of a black haired woman who stood behind a wooden desk. She rolled her eyes, but a playful smile lit up her face.

“You’re late you know.” The woman replied, before turning to Hux and curtsying. “Pleasure to meet you, I’m Mrs. Unamo, owner and keeper of the inn.”

Hux was pleasantly surprised to see a woman in charge of an establishment such as this, all too often it was stuffy old men that owned properties. He nodded to her in respect, she seemed like a no-nonsense type of woman, and Hux admired that.

“Good evening, you may call me Hux.” He purposefully dropped his title, not wanting to alert anyone of his rank or position – or lack thereof – within the military. He wasn’t that ignorant to know that he wouldn’t be well received at all if the nature of his identity were revealed.

“Well Mr. Hux, will you be requiring a room with us for your stay?” Unamo began leafing through the book atop her desk, flipping it open to the nearest blank page.

“No, actually, Mr. Hux will be joining me in my suite.” Ren slipped an arm around Hux’s waist, making him freeze. His eyes darted nervously between Ren’s profile, and the unperturbed expression of the staff, waiting for someone to comment on the gesture, for someone to dare speak against it.

“Wonderful. I assume you want the usual amount of beds ready for the rest of your crew?” Was all they got instead, from a very unphazed Unamo.

“If it’s doable.” Ren simply shrugged, knowing full well that it was.

“Anything is doable for you, Captain.” Unamo smiled, closing the registry book.

“I assume my room is ready?” Ren was already walking away, arm still wrapped around Hux in a possessive manner.

 _Mine,_ it read, and Hux’s chest puffed slightly in pride. He had never been in a place where such a union would have been allowed, it was a liberating feeling.

“Of course, we cleaned it just last week in preparation for your arrival.” Unamo reminded him once again of the fact that he was late.

“Excellent. See to it that we’re not disturbed by anyone.” Ren said, looking at Hux all the while.

“Yes sir. Have a good night.” She replied, and then they were through the door.

 

The suite was beautiful, but there was little time to take it all in before Ren’s mouth descended on him like a bird of prey. He pushed Hux back more and more until the tops of his thighs hit the high bed, sending them both toppling over. Days of avoiding one another had caused some pent up tension, and Hux was all too thrilled to be relieved of it.

“What do you want?” Ren asked, already unbuttoning his jacket and shrugging out of it.

“I want you to fuck me so hard I won’t get out of bed tomorrow.” Hux replied, drinking in the sight of Ren’s suddenly bare chest, the soft thud of his shirt hitting the ground reaching his ears just a moment before.

“As you wish, Admiral.” Ren grinned, dark and predatory and _all Hux’s._

He set to work unwrapping Hux, reverently removing each garment of his own clothing. He kissed every inch of newly exposed skin, sliding his wet tongue across each dip and crevasse that was revealed to him. Hux couldn’t help but sigh happily, not quite a moan, but rapidly getting there.

He lifted his hips to make pulling his trousers down an easier feat, and he kicked off his boots, wiggling his freed toes. Ren smiled and tugged his own pants down, making Hux sit up and come face to face with his extremely impressive and very erect cock. Ren had forgone undergarments, whether he did that for this special occasion, or it was a daily thing, Hux had no clue. He had managed to avoid staring at it until right that moment, but once he had it in his sights, he didn’t want to look away.

“Shit.” He breathed, wrapping one hand around it experimentally. The tips of his fingers didn’t touch, and he suddenly was concerned about the logistics of fitting it up his arse.

“We don’t have to – ”

“Oh yes we do.” Hux cut him off, before surging up to wrap his arms around Ren’s neck and pull him into a heated kiss.

The wet slide of their tongues made Hux’s skin flush pink, but he pushed through his nervousness to press himself flush against Ren’s beautifully sculpted body. He snaked a hand down between them, his fingers bumping down the ridges of Ren’s muscles.

“I’m going to suck your cock,” Hux whispered against Ren’s lips, drawing a shudder out from his body.

Ren nodded eagerly, repositioning them so he was laying on the bed, Hux shuffling down his body until he was level with Ren’s hips. He placed one hand right above a particularly nasty scar to steady himself as he sucked on his own fingers, wetting the digits. Ren’s mouth fell open in awe, watching Hux bend down to lick a stripe up the underside of his cock, slick hand slowly stroking it.

“Fuck Hux, that feels good.” Ren let his eyes flutter slightly closed, never taking his gaze from Hux.

He hummed around Ren’s dick, making him buck his hips slightly further up into Hux’s mouth, a hand coming down to thread through his hair and push him with a little more force. Relaxing his throat, Hux took him as deeply as he could, choking slightly due to his sheer girth. His hand made up for the area he couldn’t quite get, twisting it the way he personally liked. Ren didn’t seem to have any complaints as he practically drooled all over himself in pleasure.

“Shit, hold on.” Ren panted, and Hux pulled off with an obscene pop.

Ren rolled them over so that Hux was pressed into the mattress. He leaned over to rummage through the drawer of a wooden side table, pulling a small vial of oil out. It looked tiny in his huge hands, and Hux’s whole body sang with the prospect of getting fucked; it had been ages. He happily spread his legs, and felt Ren press a slippery finger against his arse.

“I’m going to finger you open nice and slow, so you’ll be ready for me.” Ren said, and Hux nodded eagerly, warm and pliant in Ren’s hands.

He pushed the finger in, and Hux was surprised at how tight he was, but then again, it had been weeks since he had a chance to steal a moment of pleasure even from himself. Hux blindly reached with his lips, seeking skin to suck bruises into, and found it in the soft space underneath Ren’s jaw. He smudged moans into Ren’s throat, as one finger became two.

“Fuck,” Hux breathed, pushing into the contact. Ren chuckled and held him still with a bit of pressure against his stomach, but still Hux arched his back. “Just a little more.” He bit his lip, Ren understanding and grazing his prostate with the pads of his fingers. Hux jolted slightly, the feeling so good when it was coming from someone else’s hands.

“That’s it, right there. It’s so good, keep going.” Hux begged, pushing back. The praise made Kylo flush an even deeper shade of red, and Hux grinned. “My good boy, come on, I can take more.” He pressed himself against Ren’s hand, and the pirate groaned.

Ren pressed a hot open kiss to Hux’s parted lips, grossly sucking on his tongue when he slipped a third finger in. The lubricant was enough to make the fingers slide easily, but Hux relaxed as best as he could to help.

“How do you want me?” He slurred, his arms thrown above his head, stretching for Ren, showing himself off.

“Just like this,” Ren replied, voice raw. “I want to see your face when I pull you apart.”

Hux just moaned, and lifted a shaky leg up, his ankle settling over Ren’s shoulder. It was all the invitation Ren needed, he carefully withdrew his fingers, and Hux sat up just enough to see him liberally coating his dick with the oil. Ren lined himself up, and with a confirmed nod from Hux, slowly pushed the head in.

Hux’s eyes flew wide open, four fingers would probably have been a good idea, but he loved the burn. He watched Ren watching his own cock move, Hux’s arse swallowing it inch by inch.

They were both covered in a fine sheen of sweat, and breathing hard by the time Ren finally bottomed out, Hux’s hands slipping off of Ren’s back, looking for purchase but too sweaty to find any. He settled for tangling them in Ren’s hair, it was just as soft and luxurious feeling as he had hoped. Everything about Ren was as he had dreamed, from his pillowed lips to the defined lines of his thighs. The man was a walking marble statue, a gift sent from the Gods, all for him.

“You’re stunning, fuck you’re sexy.” Hux lamented, biting his cheek. “Move, _please_.” Hux pleaded, his head thrown back, tears began pricking at the corners of his eyes from being so overwhelmed. Ren licked the sweat from his lips and nodded.

“Yes, anything for you.” He moaned, setting into a steady rhythm.

Hux had to shut his eyes, the feeling of Ren’s cock dragging over his prostate with every pass too much for him. His sheer size stretched Hux more than he had ever been stretched before, and Hux had had some partners who were interested in shoving very unusual things up there.

“Faster, you can go faster.” Hux encouraged him, arching and stretching underneath his heavy weight. Ren pulled Hux’s hips up, burying himself deeper, and Hux cried out at the shift in angle.

“You’re so fucking tight!” Ren sounded surprised, and awed, and Hux lived for the adoration.

He gripped Ren’s hair tighter, bordering on what had to be painful for the pirate, but Ren seemed to enjoy it. He thrust his hips faster and rougher, shaking the bed and slamming the headboard against the wall. Hux didn’t have a piece of mind to care, let the whole inn know who Ren was fucking, hell, let the entire island know. The only thing he cared about was the cresting feeling that had started to pool at the base of his spine.

“Ren, Ren I’m close.” Hux panted, only getting those words out before Kylo kissed him messily again.

“Kylo,” He breathed, making Hux frown in confusion. “Call me Kylo, please.” He used his brute strength to push their bodies further up the bed so he could grip the headboard and use the leverage to slam harder into Hux’s singing body.

“ _Kylo_ , I’m going to come.” Hux pleaded, tears slipping down his cheeks for the second time today, albeit completely different reasons. It was just too _good,_ he had never felt like this before, had never felt so _full._  

“Fuck, baby!” Ren – _Kylo_ , his brain supplied, moaned, and that was the end of Hux. That simple pet name had him coming hard, not even a chance to wrap a hand around his own aching cock.

Hux’s orgasm hit him hard, his eyes rolling back into his head for a moment while his vision completely whited out. He felt tingly all over, his nerves on fire. Kylo plowed into him once, twice, three more times before, chasing his own release and he doubled over when it finally crashed through him.

“Holy shit.” Hux slurred, the words muffled by Kylo’s sweaty that had collapsed on top of him.

Kylo couldn’t even speak, he was so fucked out, but Hux was happy to lay there, a melted puddle of pleasure. His arm felt like jelly when he tried to lift it, getting only as far as to place it on Kylo’s back. Hux could feel his heartbeat pressed into his own chest, an odd satisfaction in having them be synced.

“That was amazing.” He sighed, slightly wincing as Kylo pulled out. “Was it good for you?” He asked, hating the way his voice shook.

“That was better than sinking all the ships in the world.” Kylo replied, laying down on his side to face Hux.

Hux leaned in for a tender kiss, and the two laid side by side for some time, just breathing. Hux wanted to say something, but his sex addled brain just wasn’t coming up with the words. Instead, he pulled the covers over them and tucked himself close to Kylo, his nose resting perfectly in the hollow of his throat. They would figure out what the hell they were doing in the morning, after a long bath and a hot breakfast.

For now, he let Kylo hum a few bars of the new verse he had taught him, back from sitting on the ship and looking over the sea.

 _O bury me not in the deep deep sea,_  
_Where the billowing shroud will swell o'er me,_  
_Where no light will break through the dark cold wave,_  
_And no sun beam rest upon my grave,_

  
_It matters not, I have often been told_  
_Where the body shall lie when the heart is cold,_  
_Yet grant, O grant this boon to me,_  
_O bury me not in the deep deep sea._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading! I hope you liked this chapter, as before it was such a blast to write! Your comments mean the world to me, reading them is half the fun of writing fics for me, so I'd like to give a big thank you to everyone who has given this story kind words!!! Okay, I know what you're all waiting for, time for some pirate facts! 
> 
> -Traditionally, holystoning was a practice that took around four hours to complete across a handful of men. On both pirate ships and naval man-o-wars alike, it was considered a chore and even a punishment. But, as Hux says, clean ships are happy ships!  
> -The image of peg legs aren't just a fabrication of hollywood and folklore, but prosthetics were actually decently advanced for the time period. Detachable things such as hooks, hands (in different positions no less) were available for people who could afford them, and well, let's just say being aboard Kylo's ship gave everyone quite a lot of money.  
> -None of the food on ships was good. None of it. It was simply too hard to keep anything fresh.  
> -For anyone wondering "but wait, doesn't it take months to sail across the Atlantic?" It does, I'm fudging the timeline, please don't come for me.  
> -New Providence and Nassau were extreme pirate hotbeds until the mid 1700s, when the British crown executed many a buccaneer as a show of power. Then it became a lookout for pirate activity.  
> -Dolphins are indeed a sign of good luck in the pirate tradition! Plus they're my favorite sea creature, so I had to give them a shoutout. 
> 
> If you'd like, you can listen to the songs Hux and Kylo sing by clicking the links below!  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvBHdw-EqLM  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hC0bbEHTSM (I apologize that there aren't too many recordings of this song, it later became the very popular country/folk son O Bury Me Not on the Lone Prarie, you can read these lyrics to that tune if you'd like!)
> 
> Once again thank you so much for reading, and if you'd like to chat about kyluc or anything else, you can find me on tumblr @cowboykylux !!! See you all next week :) xx


	3. Faded Lines of Old Ink (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day at port brings new experiences, and Hux welcomes them with open arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahoy! First, I'd like to apologize for how late this update is. And how short it is. Not to worry, the second half of this chapter will be posted on Friday to bring us back to the Friday upload schedule! As always, I hope you enjoy! (Un-beta'd, all mistakes are my own!!)

The light was buttery gold by the time Hux woke up, allowing himself to sleep in much later than he normally would have. He clung to that elusive space in between sleep and complete consciousness, letting splotches of sun soak through the gauzy curtains and into the skin on his face, shining through his closed eyelids to dance in orange circles and swirls. For the first time in a long time, the floor beneath him didn’t rock, although his equilibrium provided the experience. For the first time ever, he found himself waking up to a warm body pressed against his own, arms snaked around his waist, legs tangled in silken sheets.

He finally opened his eyes, not daring to move any further. It was a strange feeling, waking up happy. Normally that sensation took place after a cup or two of strong coffee, a relatively new drink that had swept the continent by storm less than a hundred years ago. Hux loved tea, and would never give tea up, but there was something about a strong cup of coffee that really put Hux into a mood that one could describe as pleasant. That being said, he most certainly was not a morning person – however, this particular morning was something altogether different.

Sleep still lingering in the corners of his eyes, he focused his attention on the large and scarred hand that had captured his during the night. He took the opportunity to count marks and dings in knuckles, appreciating the way fingernails were kept short and decently clean. He allowed a very small smile to form at the sight of a little anchor inked into the patch of skin between Kylo’s thumb and forefinger, recognizing the symbol from his deck hand days.

He ran a finger in gentle circles over the anchor, startling slightly at the shift in movement behind him. Lips claimed a mark on his neck in a silent greeting; it seemed Kylo wasn’t a morning person either.

“Captain,” Hux whispered, his voice raspy. He pried his hand away from Kylo’s grip, only to turn into his arms and face the first person he had ever spent the night with. It was a surreal feeling, having it be this particular man, but Hux wasn’t going to dwell on that just now. Not with the way Kylo was looking at him.

“I like when you use my title.” Kylo smiled lazily, cheeks pulling into dimples that Hux simply couldn’t resist kissing. “Good morning.” He caught Hux’s lips and Hux blushed, embarrassed at his morning breath. Kylo didn’t seem to mind, thankfully.

“Yes, it is, isn’t it?” Hux smiled back at him, prompting strong arms to pull him up and onto Kylo’s body, their chests touching. Hux planted an elbow on either side of Kylo’s handsome face to better balance his weight.

“You look stunning.” Kylo breathed, making Hux’s blush deepen. He ducked his head, studying the golden dragon inked on Kylo’s forearm.

“It’s just the light.” Hux shook his head, knowing full well he probably looked a mess. The more awake he felt, the more he was desperate for a bath; sweat and oil and come dried on already grimy skin wasn’t the nicest feeling.

“It’s every light.” Kylo insisted, and Hux bit down the inside of his cheek in a smile. Curse Kylo and his flattery, he thought.

“Did you sleep well?” Hux asked, crossing his arms to lay his head on Kylo’s chest, watching the sheer curtains flutter in the breeze of the open windows. Kylo’s arms slipped up Hux’s back and traced idle patterns, making Hux shiver lightly all the while.

“Yes, and it was a welcome thing. I’m not a very good sleeper.” Kylo admitted. Hux let out a quiet laugh, that was something that people said about infants, when their children were fussy and refused to be quiet during the night. Somehow, coming from a fearsome man like Kylo, it seemed strange. If he thought about it any longer, it would become sad, so Hux took the opportunity to appreciate Kylo’s restful night.

“It’s quite obvious that I’m the reason. You must not murder me after we dispose of Organa and her fleet.” Hux teased, heart clenching at the lingering truth of the words.

“I think I can think of a few other reasons, but fear not, I certainly plan on keeping you.” Kylo laughed, a quiet thing in the stillness of morning, but serious all the same. Hux grinned, and he sat up, inadvertently straddling Kylo’s hips.

“You’d like that wouldn’t you, keeping me all to yourself?” He purred. Kylo’s eyes darkened as he nodded, hands immediately coming up to rub the tops of Hux’s thighs. “What else would you like?” Hux lowered his voice to something as close to sultry that he could manage in his still not entirely awake state.

“I’d like to fill you up with my come so it’s dripping down your thighs when we go to breakfast.” Kylo growled, sitting up enough to lean against the headboard. Hux’s eyes fluttered shut at the prospect, and he bit his lip to prevent a moan when Kylo wrapped a hand around his cock.

“Filthy.” Hux breathed, rocking slightly into Kylo’s touch. It was dry, but not entirely unpleasant, and Hux wanted more.

“You like it.” Kylo shifted his hips, his own morning wood rubbing against the crease where Hux’s arsecheeks met.

“Yes, yes I do.” Hux replied, pushing back for more friction.

Kylo had a sparkle in his eye as he quickly flipped them over so that he could tower over Hux’s lithe frame. It was a contrast that Hux appreciated immensely, and he could feel his still warmed muscles thrumming with excitement. He had never ever had sex in the daylight like this, this entire morning was full of firsts and he was thrilled to let them keep coming.

He adjusted himself so Kylo could get a better grip on his legs, parting them like butter. He shimmied his shoulders just a little, gasping at how strangely gentle Kylo could be, even as he roughly slung both Hux’s legs onto his shoulders.

“You also like relinquishing control to me.” Kylo said, although it came out more like a question. Hux blushed furiously, his chest a deep dark red that had Kylo licking his lips.

“Yes.” Hux agreed, because he did.

He saw the power that exuded from Kylo, he knew how he commanded his ship and the men aboard it, and he wanted to be commanded too. More than that, he wanted to be _claimed._ It was such a fierce feeling that Hux couldn’t help but twist his hands in Kylo’s hair and bring Kylo’s lips to cover the mark he had made last night, silently begging for Kylo to deepen the bruise. It didn’t matter, his cravat would cover it, but he needed to know it was there.

“You like me holding you down.” Kylo rumbled, yanking Hux’s arms up when his hands had begun to wander too far over scorching hot skin.

“ _Yes_.” Hux moaned, arching his back off the bed. It was an expensive bed, with a fine thread count on the sheets, but it was nothing compared to the slick feeling of Kylo’s skin.

Kylo pinned both of Hux’s hands down with one hand of his own, while the other moved down his body to fist his cock. He swiped the slow ooze of precome off of Hux’s tip and used that as a shitty substitute for lube. They both groaned at the initial breach of Hux’s body, he was still pliant from the previous night, and Kylo bottomed out in one long push. Hux’s nose wrinkled in a minor distaste as he heard last night’s lube and come squelch around Kylo’s cock, but then Kylo was moving, and he couldn’t get a thought together.

Kylo used his now free hand to pinch at Hux’s nipple, leaning down to suck on the other one left abandoned by his ministrations. Hux moaned, high and loud, not caring who heard. He’d kill anyone who wanted to take this moment away from them, he’d absolutely murder them.

“You like me – ” Kylo cut himself off with a guttural groan as Hux pulled one of his hands free, and used it to scratch down Kylo’s back.

“Yes.” He nodded, because it was true. It was also the only thing he could be bothered to say, a litany of _yes_ to each and every snap of Kylo’s hips.

It was like Kylo could read minds, he knew just when Hux’s legs were starting to get too sore from being held up for so long, and gently let them close around his hips instead. He knew when to press hard against Hux’s prostate and when to just get as deep as possible, burying himself into Hux’s tight wet heat. It was magic, the stars had made Kylo perfectly for him.

“Touch yourself.” Kylo begged, reminding Hux of how he came apart without any stimulation to his cock the night before.

With a sigh of pleased relief, he set up a rhythm that matched Kylo’s pounding. Kylo released his other hand, and bent down to suck on Hux’s throat, practically drooling on him as he kept thrusting.

“I’m going to come soon – ” Hux whined. It took all his willpower to move his hand away from his very hard cock, but he managed it. For all of three seconds before Kylo replaced it with one calloused palm of his own, keeping up the same pace, if not a more intense one.

“I want to see it.” Kylo panted, and Hux had to actively fight off the tightening in his balls.

“Kylo! I want to last, I – ” He protested, silenced with wet sloppy kisses that Hux was starting to learn meant Kylo was close too.

“You’re gorgeous, so gorgeous, please let me see.” He rambled, begging.

Kylo was begging for him to come, just so he could watch it happen. Hux gave into his baser desires and let his body give out, orgasm wracking through him as Kylo’s fist covered in come. His eyes screwed shut and he let out a high whine from being overwhelmed with the sensation; the feeling was everywhere. He thought every hair on his body must be standing on end, energy like lightning tingling his every nerve.

Kylo took advantage of Hux’s relaxed body for just a few thrusts more until Hux was ready to push him off from overstimulation, but Kylo suddenly came, and Hux’s mouth started to water at the hot splash of come that he would definitely feel slipping down his legs. He was floating in the peaceful calm of satisfaction, but idly somewhere in the back of his head he was glad his clothing was in need of a good wash anyway.

Hux wished Kylo could stay there forever – on top of him, inside him, but Kylo gently pulled out and flopped down on the mattress hard enough to make Hux bounce. They chuckled to one another, and Hux felt more sleepy than he did when they first began. It was a warm sort of sleepiness, not the aching tired of days at war. Hux welcomed the change.

“You said you liked me.” Kylo grinned, smiling with those dimples of his.

“There’s something very magnetic about you. I crave your attention, the way you look at me, the passion you have for your crew and your ship. I want to be near you. I want to rule the oceans with you. Together, I think we can do it.” Hux knew there were more poetic ways than this to blurt out his feelings, he knew he was more put together than that, but he got a brilliant smile from Kylo just the same.

“You’ve had my attention for years, Admiral.” Kylo confessed. Hux rolled his eyes, doubting Kylo had even heard of him prior to the disaster that was the _Finalizer._

They laid side by side for a few moments, just drinking in the sight of one another, before Hux absolutely _had_ to be clean.

“Bath and then breakfast?” He suggested, sitting up and popping the joints in his neck and hands.

“Bath and breakfast.” Kylo agreed, pulling Hux down for one more kiss.

 

Eventually they made their way to the bathroom that was adjacent to the suite, and while the tropical green walls and cream tile were lovely, the décor paled in comparison to the huge copper tub that was teeming with hot water. Soapy suds foamed at the rim of the tub, and Hux wasted no time in settling in.

“Aren’t you going to join me?” Hux asked over his shoulder at Kylo, who was leaning against the wall.

He raised an eyebrow and walked to the edge of the tub, gesturing to how full it already was.

“I don’t think it was made for two.” He chuckled, but Hux was having none of it. He decided then and there that this short trip was going to be as indulgent as possible, before they went out on a killing rampage against the Spanish. He was going to get what he wants, and he wanted Kylo to join him.

Hux reached out and grasped Kylo’s hand, tugging him forward. Kylo sighed, a playful smile on his face, and stepped in. The tub was indeed not made for two, and water sloshed onto the tile floor as Hux positioned them so Kylo was leaning against the tub, and he was leaning against Kylo.

“See?” Hux teased, getting a light splash in response. Hux just laughed, and grabbed at Kylo’s hands, bringing them in front of them.

Kylo had a few tattoos on his arms that Hux hadn’t seen before, the jacket he wore usually covering them. Hux didn’t have any tattoos himself, seeing as even though he was a sea faring man the Navy would have refused him. His father never would have let him see the light of day if he had shown up with ink under his skin, so he had an intense curiosity regarding Kylo’s.

“Want me to tell you about them?” Kylo asked, not able to see Hux’s gaze, but able to feel it.

“If it doesn’t make you uncomfortable.” Hux responded, not wanting to bring up stories that Kylo wasn’t willing to share. Some people got tattoos just for themselves, not to make it a public statement, and Hux knew that. He would respect it if that’s how Kylo viewed his tattoos, even if he would be a little disappointed.

“Why would they?” Kylo asked, laughter in his voice. The sound relaxed Hux’s shoulders, and he leaned more fully against him.

“You never show your arms to the crew. I thought you might not like sharing their stories.” Hux shrugged, smiling as the soap in the water filled his head with a sweet fog.

“It’s more for the image than anything else. I’m glad to be captain, if I did the hard labor some of those boys do, I’d be out of that jacket in an instant.” Kylo laughed more, and Hux grinned, remembering his days as a deck hand.

“I used to do all my work covered up, lest I’d burn.” Hux said, and Kylo turned his body slightly so he could face him.

“How did you not pass out from the heat?” He asked, eyebrows knit together in concern.

“I wore a white shirt, it reflected light as best as it could. I did go black a few times, but I was determined not to be treated differently in any way, so I worked through it.” Hux shrugged. Kylo’s frown deepened, but Hux kissed it away.

“Paternal reputations stick with us whether we want them to or not, don’t they?” Kylo murmured, their lips still barely touching.

“I’m afraid so. The only thing to do for it is exceed them.” Hux tried to sound as determined as he could while naked and soaking in a bubble bath. His father would have most likely died on the spot if he were there to witness such a sight, and the thought made him grin in spite. “I believe you were going to tell me about your tattoos?” He prompted, brushing his fingers against the dark blue and black lines of an anchor.

“Right yes. I’ll go in order of when I got them, that makes the most sense, right?” He sounded so young just then, so eager to please. Hux grinned and pressed a kiss to Kylo’s lips once more.

“Whatever you want, Kylo.” Hux coveted the dopey smile that lit up his face, and couldn’t resist in kissing him yet again. His lips were going to be swollen by the time they were finished with what was supposed to be a time for cleaning.

“I love when you call me that.” Kylo sighed dreamily, making Hux roll his eyes good-naturedly.

“You’re sentimental.” Hux said, before tapping on the anchor to remind Kylo to get started on his story telling.

The anchor was simple, crudely drawn outlines on his left forearm with a small 1696 written along the shank. The lines were weathered and old, and it must have been Kylo’s first, if Hux had to guess.

“I got this one after my first sailing trip with my father’s crew. We crossed the Atlantic and back, and they thought fifteen was old enough for ink, so I went and got it done. It’s not very good, but it’s special.” Kylo smiled. Hux did the mental math, if he was fifteen in 1969, then he would have to be around twenty-nine. Hux knew he was the youngest admiral to ever serve the Royal Navy at thirty-four, but still, that was impressive.  

“This one I got only a year later, when I sailed over five thousand nautical miles. And this one I got the following year when I sailed five more.” Kylo pointed to two swallows on his right upper arm. Hux had to turn around in the tub to fully see them, but they were beautiful; probably to make up for how badly the anchor had been done.

“You have to had sailed more than a hundred thousand miles by now.” Hux pointed out, amusing himself with the mental image of Kylo’s body littered with swallow tattoos.

“I stopped keeping track.” Kylo laughed, probably thinking the same thing. Hux smiled, and pointed to a shellback turtle on Kylo’s right ankle.

“What about this one?” He asked, throwing off the order that Kylo had been going in.

“I got that on my first mission aboard my old ship. I sailed her across the equator and when we docked in Jamaica I had to get it to celebrate.” Kylo replied, fondness in his voice. Hux wondered what happened to his old ship that he needed such a large one commissioned from the French, but decided that was a question for another day.

“This one?” He asked again, pointing to a gorgeous red dragon that wrapped around Kylo’s left bicep.

“That one is from when I sailed to China with the Knights, got it done the first day we made port in Shanghai.” He sounded immensely proud about that one, it must have been one of his first trips as captain, and Hux found that he wished he could have been there.

“And this one?” He had been eager to learn them all, but he didn’t need to have tattoos to know this one was a memento mori. A small dagger pierced an even smaller swallow, just below Kylo’s left elbow. It was so small that many of the lines blurred together, leaving it looking old and weathered just like the anchor.

“I got that one done after a childhood friend of mine died in a wreck. I officially became a pirate the following week.” Kylo said softly, but without a trace of sadness in his voice.

“I’m sorry.” Hux said anyway, both for the wreck, and for bringing it to Kylo’s memory again.

“It’s okay. It was a long time ago, and this is a good way to honor his memory.” Kylo replied sincerely. “That’s when I first heard the song.” He said, voice low enough that Hux wouldn’t have heard it if they weren’t sitting practically on top of each other.

“Will you teach me the next verse?” Hux asked, eager to learn.

Kylo nodded, and cleared his throat picking up right from where he had left off the night prior,

_For in fancy I've listened to the well known words,_  
_The free wild winds and the songs of the birds,_  
 _I have thought of home, of cot, and of bower,_  
 _And of scenes that I loved in childhood's hour,_

  
_I had even hoped to be laid when I died,_  
 _In the churchyard there on the green hill side,_  
 _By the homes of my father my grave should be,_  
 _O bury me not in the deep deep sea_.

Hux wondered if Kylo had loved this friend, if that’s why he remembered the lyrics and sang with such perfection. An irrational blip of jealously surfaced, that Hux shoved down. It wouldn’t do to be jealous of a time when Kylo hadn’t even known about Hux. He didn’t even know if Kylo was in love with _him_ ; he was hoping, _God_ but he was hoping, but he didn’t know for sure.

“Do you think I’d look good with tattoos?” Hux asked after a few moments, memorizing the way the skin was raised in some areas on various tattoos that Kylo had probably not taken the best care of.

“I think you’d look good in anything.” Kylo told him, prompting them both to laugh. Hux didn’t say anything about Kylo’s compliments this time, instead turning away from him again after handing him a bar of soap.

“Let’s scrub up and rinse off before we both turn to prunes. I wouldn’t want that ink of yours to get all wrinkled.” Hux suggested. The water had started to grow cold, and he wanted to catch breakfast while it was still fresh.

 

They scrubbed the grime off their skin and out of their hair, stepping out of the filthy tub to rinse off with buckets of clean water that had been left for that very purpose. Hux felt like a new person, spring water was heavenly after days of sharp ocean spray. Kylo looked damn good, and he knew it. His hair was grease-free, and it bounced and curled in gentle waves. His skin was slightly flushed but it practically sparkled, smelling sweetly of salt and lavender instead of, well, instead of a pirate ship.

They dressed lazily, letting the sun rise a little more. It had to be around eight o’clock in the morning by then, but they still were in no hurry. This was supposed to be a vacation after all, and Hux wanted to take advantage of that. They had somewhat abandoned the crew last night in favor of each other’s company, but it looked like someone had brought up their luggage, as two large trunks had been waiting for them when they finally emerged from the bathroom.

Digging through Kylo’s clothing made Hux all the more excited to get his own, if Kylo’s offer still stood. He hoped it did, because he could only go on wearing oversized shirts and trousers for so long. He stuck with something similar to what he had been wearing; a billowy black silk shirt, tucked into trousers, a red sash around his waist to keep everything on.

“After breakfast we’ll go to Phasma.” Kylo grinned, watching with amusement as Hux did up his cravat. The silk was nice and cool against his skin, and he was thrilled to get some of his own.

“Is that who owns the clothing store?” He asked, pulling on clean socks and sliding his feet into boots.

“Among other things. She’s a good friend, any time I’m here I make sure to see her.” Kylo replied, putting on a show for Hux while he slowly did up the buttons on his own shirt.

Hux’s growling stomach sent them both chuckling. He really did want breakfast, the prospect of food that hadn’t been stored in a barrel was enough for him to only appreciate Kylo’s defined pecs with his eyes and not his hands.

When they were both finally ready, Kylo grabbed a handful of Hux’s ass and spread the cheeks slightly, making Hux gasp; cool slick slid out of his hole, and Hux’s face could have caught fire with how red it turned. He thought he had cleaned himself rather well in the bath but it looked like Kylo had lied to him when he said all the come he had filled him with was gone.

“I told you it was going to drip down your thighs at breakfast.” Kylo hummed, breath hot on Hux’s neck.

“You’re cleaning this up before we go to Phasma, is that clear?” Hux hissed, begging his erection to not resurface. He had to be slightly respectable at the restaurant, and that meant no raging hardon making Hux beg to be taken, or whatever it was that Kylo was dreaming of.

“Mm, yes admiral.” Kylo grinned, and Hux’s mind tripped over itself when Kylo slid a hand down through the back on Hux’s trousers, rubbing two fingers in the mess and bringing them back up to his mouth, obscenely sucking them clean.

“Take me to breakfast you brute.” He huffed, turning on his heel with shaky legs, Kylo winking and laughing all the way to the door.

 

Hux could tell from the moment he stepped into the tavern that he was going to love it here. Rich warm wood surrounded them as they took a seat at a table near a window that overlooked the glittering ocean, sea birds chirped outside, the wave of palm trees and flowers a calming noise in the breeze. Kylo ordered ‘the usual’ for the two of them, and Hux had no idea what that meant, but he figured trying something new was better than starving.

He didn’t know what he had been expecting, having stayed mostly on the Eastern hemisphere for his entire career, but what was served to him had not been it. On the large platter was a bowl of soup filled with onions, celery, and spices, with chopped grouper and a thick tomato sauce. Next to it was a smaller bowl of deep red grits, and then a plate covered in slices of a crumbly bread.

“Kylo,” Hux asked, apprehensively looking at the food in front of them. Kylo looked up, mouth already filled with food. “What is this?” He whispered, not wanting to be rude.

“Stew’ fish, grits, and Johnny cakes. Try some, you’ll like it.” He replied after washing down everything with a big glass of coffee. Hux was thankful it wasn’t rum.

“How could you possibly know what I like to eat?” Hux scoffed playfully. Kylo rolled his eyes.

“Just try it.” He pushed Hux’s tray a little closer to him, and Hux gave in.

He certainly had no qualms about seafood, he just thought seafood at eight-thirty in the morning was a little much. Still, the stew’ fish was delicious. Hints of thyme and the tomato sauce danced on his tongue, and he found no other spice than pepper. The fish was fried to perfection, and he scooped up another spoonful before moving on to the grits. Hux figured grits were standard fare everywhere, but they tasted delicious just the same. The Johnny cakes were truly out of this world, in Hux’s opinion, and he knew immediately why Kylo had stuffed his face with them the moment they had been served.

“How is this bread made?” He asked their waitress when she came back to check on them. She had a kind smile and beautiful dark hair that was braided away from her face.

“I can’t give the recipe away because my grandpa would kill me, but I can tell you the secret is in the milk we use. There’s no other white corn meal cake like it.” She winked before leaving to attend another table.

“See? I told you you’d like it.” Kylo grinned triumphantly.

“After a week of salted beef, I’d gladly eat anything.” Hux teased, slurping up more soup.

“You’ll be glad to know that we’re going to stock up the store while we’re here.” Kylo leaned back in his chair, and for a moment, Hux had to remind himself that he had shacked up with the captain of a pirate ship. In all his years, he never would have thought this a possibility.

“Good. We need citrus on board, I won’t have any of your men falling over from scurvy.” He barely stopped himself from saying _our_ men, his own captaining tendencies too loud to ignore.

“We’ve already lost a couple to it.” Kylo nodded solemnly in agreement. “Best place for citrus is here though. They’ve got so many traders coming in from all over, I’m sure we can get a few crates of some lemons and oranges.”

“Can Grievous cook…?” Hux was going to ask if he could cook with fresh ingredients, but didn’t want to offend the state of Kylo’s ship. Instead, Kylo nearly spit out his coffee from laughing so hard, at the equally yet unintended rude question that that had resulted in.

“Sometimes I wonder that myself.” Kylo’s voice shook with the laughter, but he tried to keep it down. It really was too early for most people, pirates liked to sleep in.

“I just meant if he had a background in cooking things outside of what we serve on ships. I’d like to get some vegetables aboard the _Silencer._ ” Hux clarified, trying hard not to grin, especially when their waitress was giving them funny looks.

“The only thing green these men will be after are emeralds, Hux.” Kylo snickered, hiding his smile behind one beautifully clean hand.

“Yes, well, I hope to teach them of the beauty of broccoli.” Hux deadpanned, making Kylo laugh even harder.

They ate their breakfast quickly, as it soon became clear their volume was annoying to the three other patrons of the tavern. Kylo offered to kill them, but Hux didn’t want to deal with the mess so early. Instead, they went back to their room, and sat on the balcony that overlooked the port.

The _Silencer_ was docked not too far from where the inn was built, they could see the sails and the flags waving proudly in the breeze.

“What do you think the men are up to?” Hux asked, looking out over the port. The island seemed so tiny from their little spot on the balcony, and Kylo inched closer, pressing his side against Hux’s, and sweetly kissing Hux’s cheek.

“Knowing them? They’re not even awake yet.” Kylo chuckled.

“You’d think their instincts would tell them to rise with the sun.” Hux rolled his eyes, letting his head rest gently on Kylo’s shoulder. There were people milling about, but no one cared about them. Hux still couldn’t get over that feeling – being able to be free in this way, this casual intimacy that would have them both thrown in jail back home.

“Oh their instincts are buried deep beneath a thick layer of alcohol, believe me.” Kylo mused.

“Then that means no one is awake to hear you clean up your mess.” Hux smiled smugly, grabbing Kylo’s hand and dragging him back inside. “I won’t be meeting any good friends of yours whilst your come is still in my pants.” He grinned.

“Yes sir.” Kylo lazily saluted and all but threw Hux onto the bed.

With Kylo’s tongue buried deep in his arse, he couldn’t help but think that this trip was going to be perfect. He never wanted to leave, not the bed, not the island. He would be content to eat Johnny cakes, and to lay there listening to the waves forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading and having patience with me with how late this chapter was. I had a very rough week where my writing motivation was just down the drain. But! I'm back, and there should be no more problems with future uploads, so you can once again expect the second part to this chapter up on Friday, and then the rest of the chapters up each following Friday! :) And now, everyone's favorite part of my fics, the long and maybe unnecessary historical/pirate facts! lol
> 
> -Coffee had been introduced to Europe in the 1600s, but for Hux's purposes the late 1650s were when it became popular in Britain. A Turkish man brought the drink to Oxford, and it instantly became a hit among the students and the teachers, so really, coffee has been helping university students get through finals for hundreds of years lol.  
> -Pirates did not bathe nearly as often as they should have. Unfortunately for our boys, the golden age of piracy and the golden age of indoor plumbing do not coexist, and taking a bath was not as easy as turning a knob. Water had to be heated over a stove or fire, and then carried to the tub, which were often times copper or wood, copper being the better insulator. Kylo is a rich pirate and can afford such a luxury for them to enjoy, but for the most part, pirates would bathe in rivers or creeks if they came across them  
> -Tattoos were SO important to sailors that there are hundreds of websites detailing exactly what they all mean, and trust me when I say each of them have a meaning. Sailors were (and still are in many places) extremely superstitious, so tattoos acted as talismans in addition to markers of personal achievement. Some tattoos that I didn't mention include things like a pig on one foot/knee and a rooster on the other, because it was a popular belief that God would save those animals in a shipwreck, and if you had it inked on your skin, you would be saved too. Kylo doesn't have this particular one, but if you were wondering which hand his small crossed anchor was tattooed on, it's the right, signifying Kylo has sailed all the Seven Seas  
> -The breakfast I showed in this part of the chapter is just a guess to what pirates might have eaten at New Providence. There isn't any actual mention of it, but I researched traditional and popular dishes of the area, and thought it was a good fit.  
> -Scurvy was bad!!! I won't even go into the list of the effects of having it, because I personally am too squeamish to even go into detail lol, but trust me, no one wanted to get scurvy. The best way to ward it off was through Vitamin C, the easiest being eating citrus. The reason so many sailors got the disease was due to how quickly they needed to consume their fruits and vegetables before it went bad. Once they went through all the stores, they had essentially removed their intake of Vitamin C until they could stock up again. Hux is very glad that they are stocking up again lol.  
> -Pirates were notorious drunks, unsafe drinking water and all that. 
> 
> Thank you all again so much, and I hope to see you back on Friday for part 2 of this chapter! As always, if you'd like to chat with me about anything, you can find me on tumblr @cowboykylux :) xxxx


	4. Faded Lines of Old Ink (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahoy! Thank you all for your patience with this update, it's been a crazy week, but I do hope that you enjoy this chapter!!  
> Before you read this though, I implore you to check out the absolutely STUNNING artwork my dear friend drew, which can be found [HERE](https://pandalolli.tumblr.com/post/164634892291/pandalolli-piratekylo-from-cowboykyluxs#notes)
> 
> (un-beta'd, all mistakes are my own!)

They hadn’t meant to fall back asleep, but Hux found himself waking up for the second time that day. Luckily for him, he and Kylo had managed to pass out on clean sheets – a luxury that was given to them most certainly because Hux had a sneaking suspicion Kylo owned the place. Either way, he was grateful to not be wallowing in a wet spot, and he woke Kylo up with a gentle shake to his shoulder. The sun was just low enough in the sky that the other pirates would be up, and there was much to do. Clothes needed to be purchased, the ship needed careening, and most importantly, they needed to find out information about Organa’s whereabouts from the locals.

“What time is it?” Kylo rumbled, pressing a hand to his eyes. Hux checked the clock that was standing in the corner of the room, frowning. Had they really slept that long?

“It’s almost noon. We’ve been out for hours.” Hux sprang out of bed.

Once he was up, there was no stopping him, and he was determined to instill the same sort of principle in Kylo. It looked like it wasn’t working well, as the captain pulled his covers up over his ears. Hux grabbed the foot of the blanket and tugged, and Kylo sat up with a glare. He looked mildly ridiculous with creases from the pillowcase on his face, and Hux raised an eyebrow.

“Good thing we already ate, or else I’d be starving.” Kylo mumbled, stretching. He took off his jacket sometime in their nap, probably sweating too much in the velvet to be comfortable. The result was a deep v-necked view of his chest, and Hux stole a peek, chastising himself for having such a lack of control.

“Oh you’d manage.” Hux teased. Kylo yawned, an action big and catlike, the sun sending diamonds of light reflecting off his gold teeth. “Shall I fetch some cold water for your face?”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Kylo growled, before launching himself up at Hux. He grabbed him around the middle and twirled him around, landing them both back on the bed. Hux was too startled to laugh, but when he opened his eyes from the clenched shut position they flew into, he saw a gentle smile playing on Kylo’s lips. Hux gave in for a kiss, before pushing his fists on Kylo’s ridiculously broad chest.

“Come on, we’ve got much to do. I’d like to meet this friend of yours.” He wriggled out of Kylo’s grip, only freeing himself when Kylo eventually released his hold.

“Hmm, yes as much as I like it I suppose you can’t keep wearing my things.” Kylo looked him up and down, probably imagining what Hux would look like in garb of his own.

“I shall follow your lead, captain.” Hux rolled off the bed and gestured to the door. Kylo’s good eye flicked from him to the door, and he sighed, grumbling about how he needed his beauty sleep as he grabbed his hat off its hook.

 

The port was finally awake, and bustling with activity. There were more than just one pirate ship in the harbor, but Hux found himself not at all bothered by being surrounded by skulls and crossbones. They wandered down the lush pathway from the inn to the shore, where strings of pop up shops were situated on the cobblestone road. People were selling anything and everything, from foreign food to illicit goods stolen from the Spanish. Hux grinned, and with borrowed money from Kylo, purchased some tobacco from such a smuggler, happy to be any cause for continued Spanish annoyance.

“If I ever am able to return to London, I’ll be sure to pay you back.” Hux said, not wanting Kylo to think him some mistress he has to spoil. He packed the tobacco into his pipe and sucked in a deep breath, letting the smoke burn his lungs and blow through his nostrils.

“Considering I stole your valuables and sunk your ship, I think I need to do a bit of repaying myself.” Kylo laughed, impulsively purchasing a small golden hoop earring and handing it to Hux.

“That is a very good point.” Hux smiled, gratefully accepting the jewelry. Brendol hadn’t allowed tattoos, but piercings were something that could be used to decorate oneself with the status of their wealth, so Hux was able to easily slide the hoop through his ear, fastening the closure at the back. Kylo looked breathless, and Hux blushed.

“Besides, if you’re going to be my co-commander – ” Kylo cleared his throat, trying to cover up his stare only to be interrupted by Hux.

“Co-commander?” His eyebrows shot straight up. They regarded each other for a minute, letting people pass by them on the street. No one co-commanded ships, that simply wasn’t how it _worked._

“Yes, I was hoping you’d sail at my side. When this is all over.” Kylo looked to the floor, hair falling in his face.

“The men won’t like that.” Hux chewed his lip. There could be a mutiny, he had barely been aboard for ten days!

“The men can go overboard for all I care. I want you beside me.” Kylo looked up through his eyelashes, a dark possessive glint in his eye. Hux felt like a treasure to be coveted, and was overwhelmed by the feeling. He let a finger brush against the gold hoop, and nodded.

“I’d like that very much.” Hux whispered, the admission almost lost in the raucous of the port. Kylo beamed, his posture straightening as he made his way down the street. The crowds parted for him, this powerful man exuding his strength.

“Good, then you need proper clothing!” Kylo called, leaving Hux to catch up.

 

They arrived only a few minutes later in front of a beautiful building with dress forms in the window, and a wooden sign reading _Gwendoline’s_ hanging out front. It was huge, three floors if the windows were anything to go by. There were small balconies that overlooked the port, and some ladies were dressed up for lunch, eating sandwiches and drinking tea as they watched the ships come and go.

Kylo didn’t bother knocking, just stepping inside and immediately greeting who Hux assumed had to have been Phasma. She was tall, much taller than even Kylo who nearly met two meters tall, and wore her hair silvery blonde hair cropped short. Instead of a dress or skirt, she wore a waistcoat and breeches tucked into high boots. Hux could barely believe the sight, a woman in men’s clothing was practically unheard of.

“Ren don’t just stand there, introduce me to your friend.” Phasma smiled, holding out a hand. Hux took it and gave it a firm shake, she had a strong grip.

“This is Mr. Hux, he’s a recent addition to the _Silencer_ , and we need him dressed accordingly.” Kylo’s voice had deepened, friendly but still very much in charge.

“Hux, you say?” She raised an eyebrow and stared at him. Hux set his jaw, wracking his brain for how she might know him. He didn’t think news of his career would have reached this far west, but there was recognition in her eyes and he knew he was screwed.

“Yes ma’am. Armitage Hux.” He nodded, shoulders straightening under the appraisal. Eventually Phasma’s eyes relaxed from their narrowed state, and she pulled out her measuring tape.

“I’m Gwendoline Phasma, everyone calls me Phasma. It’s a pleasure to meet you, any friend of Captain Ren’s is a friend of mine.” She gave an exaggerated curtsey that was slightly comical due to her lack of skirt, and then turned away from the two of them, walking towards a fitting room.

“We aren’t staying long as we have a ship to hunt down, but I know that if there’s anyone that can get a man fitted quickly, it’s you.” Kylo leaned against the wooden counter, hands clasped in front of him and a glint in his eye. Phasma scoffed and nodded, ushering Hux into the room.

“You’re right about that. How many outfits are you thinking of?” She called to Kylo, who was none too pleased about being left out in the parlor.

“Ten, five formal and five informal. With variety of informal so he can rotate.” They heard Kylo reply, making both of them recoil in shock. That truly was an outrageous number, Hux never had more than five uniforms at any given time in the navy.

“Ten? Ren, half the men on your ship have twice as less.” Phasma poked her head through the door, and Hux caught a glimpse of him shrugging.

“Yes well, Mr. Hux isn’t your standard deck hand. He’s to be my co-commander.” Kylo replied, a challenge in his voice, daring Phasma to question him. She sighed and closed the door, turning to Hux.

“Is that so?” She asked, surprise etched into her features.

“Apparently, yes.” Hux replied, shrugging sheepishly. He had only been asked this minutes beforehand, it was just as surreal to him as it was to her. Probably moreso.

“Tell me, Mr. Hux, how long have you been on the ocean?” Phasma asked, tapping his arms. He held them up and she slid the measuring tape from his shoulder to his wrist. He noticed she didn’t write anything down.

“Twenty-three years.” He proudly said.

“And how many ships have you captained in that time?” She asked, wrapping the tape around his chest and then waist.

“Four.” Hux replied, bitterness burning like acid in the back of his throat at the reminder that all his ships were currently at the bottom of the ocean.

“Four ships? Why so few?” She looked up from her measuring tape, concerned. Funny, that wasn’t the response he had been expecting. Most people mocked how he wasn’t able to hold a steady job, bouncing from ship to ship when they heard the number. Captains generally stuck with one ship their career, it never would have occurred to him that a higher number was preferred among pirates.

“I was with the same ship for nearly a decade before the Spanish sunk her.” He explained, and she nodded in understanding.

“I assume it was the best for its time?” She moved down to his inseam, and he sighed.

“Yes. It was. And then I got the new best, and our captain here took advantage of a storm and sunk us.” He teasingly pointed to the door, where Kylo had been eavesdropping on the other side.

“I said I was sorry!” He whined, making the both of them laugh.

“Oh yes, the _Finalizer_. I daresay you’ve been kind to him, if it were my ship I would have shot him in the throat the first chance I got.” Phasma mused, looping the tape around his thighs and calves for circumference.

“He’s grown on me, unfortunately.” Hux blushed, making Phasma smile.

“There are few people who can say the same, Mr. Hux.” She paused for a moment, pressing her ear to the door, and then whispering, “Does your father know you’re here?”

“I beg your pardon – ” Hux started, voice low, but Phasma rolled her eyes.

“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. ‘Hux’ is not a common last name, I couldn’t help but put two and two together. I would change it, or only go by your first.” She whispered again, in case anyone could hear.

“I’m afraid I’ve no other name that isn’t associated with the Navy. Even ‘Starkiller’ was earned under the Union Jack.” He replied, making her _tsk_.

“Starkiller might be the best option you’ve got.” She shrugged, imploring him to think about it. “Well, no matter. You have a friend in me, Mr. Hux. Ren is dear to me, and you are dear to him. I’ll see to it that no one on this island speaks of your presence here, and if they do, that it be under the pretense of a new pirate lord, not admiral of his majesties fleet.” She opened the door to the fitting room, and Kylo stood up so straight so quickly that he knocked a display of hats over onto the ground.

“Thank you. I never would have expected hospitality from traitors to the crown.” Hux teased, making Phasma laugh.

“I’m glad that you’ve opened your eyes to the possibility then.” She replied, before walking over to the men’s clothing display. “Pick out what you’d like, I’ll have them fitted to your measurements by the end of the day.” She gestured to beautifully made clothing that had Hux’s heart thrumming; never in his wildest dreams did he think he would be wearing such fine things. He had only ever been in uniform, the prospect of choosing his own designs was novel to him.

“Do you like her?” Kylo asked as they sifted through gorgeous coats and jackets.

“Yes, I’m glad to have met her.” Hux hummed, running his hands through silken neckties. Kylo grinned, pleased that they got along well.

“She’s in constant talk with traders, always buying new fabrics. I’m having lunch with her to see what she knows, if anything.” He explained. Hux nodded, knowing that information was only given so freely in the presence of relative strangers.

“I’ll see to the ship then, it needs to be scraped off sooner rather than later.” Hux looked to Kylo, and found hesitation. He placed a hand on his hip, poised to say something about how he refuses to sail on a barnacle crusted ship, when Kylo blushed and looked down.

“If you wouldn’t mind waiting for me, I’d like to watch.” He requested quietly.

“What, have you never careened a boat?” Hux asked playfully shoving into Kylo’s side.

“Yes, but I like watching you give orders.” Kylo grinned, shoving back. Hux’s face heated, and he busied himself with inspecting various shades of black trousers.

“Very well. I’ll just be down at the tavern then, for a spot of lunch myself.” Hux tried to keep a straight face, before plucking all the things he wanted and piling them all into Kylo’s waiting arms.

“Here, take this.” Kylo shifted the clothing to one arm while he reached into his pocket for something. He held out a sleek sword handle, and Hux stared at it. It had been ages since he wielded one of these things.

“Your cutlass?” He asked, brow furrowed.

“Just in case.” Kylo explained. Hux supposed it couldn’t hurt, but he did feel slightly more devious now that he had it. He caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror; he looked like a proper pirate, with his earring and his sword.

“Go bring those to Phasma, I’ll see you after lunch. Let me know what you find out.” Hux grinned, giddy. Kylo leaned down to kiss him, and Hux let him, even in broad daylight and in the middle of a store. No one paid them any attention, and Hux left the shop with a pep in his step as he made his way down to the tavern.

 

The tavern was a completely different place when it was bustling with the lunch crowd. According to a hand painted sign, alcohol was served beginning at eleven o’clock, so it made sense for the afternoon patrons to already be drunk off their arses. Hux sat up at the bar, slid a coin onto the table, and requested a large glass of ale, not wanting to appear out of place. He smiled at the waitress that had served him and Kylo earlier that morning, but her smile quickly dashed as the door banged open, and a large shadow crept over the bar.

The musicians that were set atop a small platform slowly stopped playing, and there was nothing but the clink of metal and the heavy thud of false legs scraping against the floor. Hux could feel the eyes on his back, but refused to turn around. He let one hand drift to Kylo’s cutlass, careful not to be too obvious. Looking straight ahead, he took a sip of ale.

“Do me eyes deceive, or is there some’n sittin’ in me seat?” A scratchy voice asked, volume maximized by the sudden silence of the bar.

“I didn’t realize this stool had your name carved into it.” Hux replied, taking another sip of ale. He had dealt with many a tougher man than whoever this wretched pirate thought he was, and he would not be intimidated.

“Aye, but it does.” The man growled, grabbing hold of the back of Hux’s stool and yanking it around. Hux came face to face with the man then, and his eyes widened in recognition.

While it was still true that piracy hadn’t yet reached English shored, news from the New World were plentiful and descriptive of pirate captains, often accompanied by pictures of likenesses for the lookout. This man’s likeness was well known, he was immediately recognizable due to the black tattoos on his face, drawn with perfectly symmetrical geometry.

“Captain Maul, is it?” Hux asked, holding his chin high.

Maul’s orange eyes quirked, a sneer revealing gnarled yellow teeth crossing his features. At one time, he had been the right hand man to Lord Palpatine, before he defected and called himself Sidious. Sidious had lead one of the strongest military campaigns the oceans had seen, conquering and claiming for the crown all matter of islands off the coast of Africa. That had been decades ago, and it showed. The legendary duel between Maul and a man named Kenobi cost the pirate his legs, an injury that most did not come back from. It seemed Maul was an exception, even if his breathing was haggard and his limp profound.

“Aye, ‘tis. And who might you be, _Mick_?” Maul sized him up and down, and Hux fumed. The slur was tossed out off-handedly, but Hux told himself he wouldn’t react to it. Maul clearly was pleased at Hux’s knowing him, and Hux found himself thinking that one day, no one would ever ask again who he was – they would just know.

“They call me the Starkiller.” Hux replied, not flinching when Maul laughed so hard spit flew into his face.

“ _You?_ You’re tha one they say blew up tha Danish fleet?” Maul coughed out in between heavy laughter. Hux would have been surprised if he weren’t already drunk out of his pants, but he had never met the man, so he had nothing to go off of for reference.

“Find that hard to believe?” Hux raised an eyebrow, taking another sip of ale. One of them could be civil at least. It wouldn’t do embarrass Kylo on their first full day at port.

“Jus’ a li’le.” Maul wiped a tear from his cheek, his laughter still shaking his old body. He sat down heavily in the stool next to Hux, and gestured for a tall glass of hard liquor. “Ya know, _Starkiller_ , ya sound migh’y educated for a man of yer stature.” He sneered, chugging down a considerable amount of his whiskey.

The band had started to play up again, music just loud enough to mask everyone’s conversations. Hux couldn’t tell if Maul was baiting him into something, and answered carefully.

“I read, yes.” He replied, thinking of his favorite books that may or may not have been rescued by Kylo’s crew. He really did need to ask to see the stores of goods they had picked up from the _Finalizer._

“Then surely ya’ve heard of a wise man by tha name of Voltaire.” Maul dropped the name lightly, but Hux’s jaw clenched at the sound of it.

Voltaire had recently talked about publishing a series of vile papers explicitly condoning prejudice against the Irish. As if he didn’t already hate the French enough, suddenly this man who liked to stick his nose in business it didn’t belong in was degrading all of Ireland to be nothing more than savages who desperately needed conquering by more civilized rule.

“Unfortunately, yes. I am familiar.” Hux spit. There were few things that got him riled up, and commenting negatively on his heritage was one of them. Still, he remained composed, back hairpin straight and grip strong on the cutlass handle.

“Then ye migh’ understand why I find it difficul’ ta believe a _thickheaded Irishman_ capable of anythin’ so complex as destroyin’ any manner o’ ships.” Maul said, before laughing loudly again.

The entire bar went silent once more, and everyone held their breath. Maul was nearly doubled over laughing, and Hux could feel the eyes on them. He calmly drank the rest of his ale, letting every last drop of foam slide onto his tongue, before setting it down on the wooden counter with a resounding thud.

“Say that again.” Hux said, not entirely a question but not a command either. It was a dare, whether or not Maul knew it.

“What? That yer a no-good bog-trotter?” Maul laughed again, spitting in his face.

Hux saw _red._ Before he knew what he was doing, he had wrestled Maul to the ground, delivering punch after punch to the man’s tattooed face. Blood sprayed from Maul’s nose and mouth onto the floor, onto his clothing, and onto Maul’s precious stool. They wrestled around, weapons being dropped in the fray. Hux heard the clang of the cutlass only a few feet away from him, but the way he was entangled with Maul on the floor, there was no way for him to grab it.

The band kicked it up, playing louder and more lively music as Maul finally got it in his senses to fight back. The whiskey must have dulled his reaction time a little, because by the time it took for him to kick Hux in the gut to get him off, Hux had already begun to strangle the man with his own necklaces.

The door of the tavern banged open, and Hux barely had the presence of mind to look up, seeing Bradshaw standing in the doorway. It was maybe a fraction of a second before Bradshaw was out the door again, no doubt going in search of Kylo. Hux wished for his pistol, and Maul took the opportunity to throw him into one of the unused tables. Maul was not taller than him, but what he lacked in height he made up for with a bizarre knowledge of martial arts, a very big surprise coming from someone of his age.

Maul grabbed Hux by the collar, and dragged him face to face, laughing all the while. Hux narrowed his eyes and grabbed the cutlass, sheathing the blade deep into Maul’s thigh.

“Next time you think about insulting an Irishman,” Hux carved the blade around until blood freely flowed from underneath Maul’s prosthetic, “You remember the day _Starkiller_ took your leg from you.” Hux sneered, snapping the clamps away and ripping the silver leg from Maul’s mangled knee. He doubted Maul could understand him through all his own screaming, but the sentiment was there just the same.

“He won’t get the chance ever again.” A familiar voice snapped from the doorway. Kylo stormed through the tavern, looking as furious as Hux felt.

Hux watched Kylo shove patrons out of his way, a fury in his face that even made Hux afraid. He was thrumming with adrenaline, having just cut off a man’s false leg and all, but he was frozen to the spot. The vein in Kylo’s neck was dangerously prominent, and Hux found his feet suddenly, standing up and pressing himself against Kylo.

“Don’t kill him, he’s learned his lesson.” Hux said, spitting on the floor where Maul was steadily bleeding.

Around twenty pirates burst into the tavern, all wearing Maul’s colors, swords drawn. Seconds later, Bradshaw and the rest of the Knights barreled through the door, standing opposite Maul’s men. They all growled at one another like feral dogs, hissing and bared teeth.

Kylo looked ready to kill, his jaw was fluttering with how tightly he was clenching it. Hux placed a bloodied hand on his arm, but he only succeeded in making Kylo’s breathing harsher.

“I won’t kill your disgusting excuse of a captain because the Starkiller wishes it, and _only_ because he wishes it. Is that clear?” Kylo shouted at Maul’s men, his own lip curled back and red in the face.

The men narrowed their eyes, each and every one more filthy and foul smelling than the last. Hux had half a mind to place a bet their boat was crawling with vermin, and that they hadn’t clipped their toenails in months, that’s how disgusting they looked. Maul may have been ferocious at one time, but he certainly wasn’t anything special now, bleeding out on the floor.

The men were all talking over one another, and it was starting to give Hux a headache. Kylo tightened his grip on him to make sure he wouldn’t fall over; the adrenaline was wearing off and Hux just wanted this over with. It had been drawn out long enough, they still had too much to discuss. He tried picking out what everyone was saying, only getting bits and pieces.

“If ye think we’re jus’ goin’ ta let ye get away with this – ”

“We’re sworn ta defend ‘im – ”

“You’ll hang for this – ”

Hux stepped away, walking over to where Maul lay writhing on the ground, bent down, and snapped his neck. The tension was so thick, Hux probably could have sliced through it with Kylo’s sword.

“I changed my mind. Kill them.” Hux sneered, not wanting to hear any more of the hive-mind chatter.

Kylo looked up at him like he had just given him the best present, and gently sat Hux down on one of the only remaining upright barstools before taking the cutlass from Hux’s bloodied finger tips. He pressed a sweet kiss against Hux’s cheek and turned away, all but jumping in the fray that Hux’s words had caused.

Bradshaw and Swett were sword to sword with two of the larger pirates, Milton and Hornsby were back to back, slicing and stabbing through any of Maul’s crew that came at them, and Digby was using his bare hands to punch and choke his way through the tavern.

The band never faltered, loud and fun piano music setting the rhythm of the Knight’s slashes and lunges. The nice waitress from before served him up another pint of ale, and Hux gladly accepted it while he watched his captain stab through two men at once. He leaned back against the bar, occasionally kicking away a burly man that had decided to make a bee-line for him, tossing them away so one of the Knights could slit their throats.

By this point, any of the patrons who weren’t on one side or the other had taken a side, and Hux was glad to see that they all seem to choose Kylo’s. There was too much going on, but Hux managed his attention on all of it, blocking out yells of rage and screams of pain. His focus kept going to Kylo though, the graceful way he cut out tongues and spun his sword. Kylo didn’t seem to get nearly as messy as some of his Knights, but that could just be because of the blackness of his clothing.

Eventually, the fighting stopped, no more of Maul’s men to slaughter. The bar was an utter disaster, blood on the walls, the floor, covering the tables and stools, even some had managed to spray on the ceiling. Kylo stomped over, practically glowing, and gave an apologetic smile to the waitress who had been serving Hux.

“I’ll have some boys come up to clean the mess, ma’am.” He tipped his hat, and the waitress smiled.

“Captain Ren, I know you well enough to expect a brawl whenever you come to port.” She chuckled, “But some help would be appreciated.” She shook her head and went through a door in the back.

“Would you allow a kiss?” Kylo asked, hands finding Hux’s waist.

“I’ll allow more than just one.” Hux replied, humming into Kylo’s embrace.

They grinned against each other’s lips, laughter bubbling up from their chests. It wasn’t proper, none of it was, but Hux didn’t care. He looped his arms around Kylo’s neck in plain view of the Knights, receiving only wolf whistles from them. He thought they must have looked crazed, like wild animals necking after a kill, and maybe they were.

“Do you think we could take another bath?” Hux asked, feeling the hot blood start to cool and stick to his clothing. He was acutely aware it was on his face and in his hair, and he wasn’t particularly keen on keeping it there.

“Would you mind the river? Unamo would be pissed if I asked for more hot water so soon.” Kylo rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, and Hux smiled.

“I wouldn’t mind. I just want to get the blood off of me.” He gestured to his torn clothing, thanking his lucky stars that Phasma hadn’t dressed him up in his new finery yet.

“It’s a good look, I have to say.” Kylo swooped down for another kiss, but Hux didn’t allow this one, he really did feel gross.

“I must say the same for you, I’ll have to let you kill on my behalf more often.” Hux mused, before detangling himself from Kylo. He picked up the silver leg and inspected it, it would need to be washed too, there were still chunks of flesh attached to it that would start to smell soon.

“I look forward to it.” Kylo replied kindly, before extending both hands. Hux placed the leg in Kylo’s palms, and Kylo turned towards the front of the tavern. “Stuart! Call the deck rates, have them send ten men over to clean this proud establishment.”

“Aye cap’n!” Stuart saluted with his good hand, rushing over to Kylo who transferred possession of the leg to him.

“And Stuart, while you’re there, get this thing cleaned, have the boatswain prepare the _Silencer_ for careening. We can’t waste any time tomorrow stocking the ship with supplies.” He instructed, blood on his face but command in his voice.

“Of course, cap’n. Right away cap’n!” Stuart happily replied, a wide smile at being given the task.

“Did she have news then?” Hux asked, voice low. Kylo nodded, and took Hux’s hand in his, leading them out the door. They stepped over Maul’s dead body, and Hux couldn’t help but spit on him once more.

“Yes, I know exactly where she’ll be and a good window of time that she’ll be there. I’ll tell you about it at the river.” Kylo promised, and Hux let him lead the way.

 

The river was beautiful, and Hux welcomed the fresh water. Surprisingly, no one said anything about the sudden appearance of so many bloodied people, but then again, it was a pirate port after all. Hux wondered how many people Kylo killed here, if it became an expectation whenever he was around. Either way, the walk to the river was short, and Hux was glad.

Hux still couldn’t get over how crystal clear the waters were here. They were a beautiful turquoise blue, white sand bars peeking through occasionally when the currents were slow. The trees weren’t very tall, so there was not much shade to be had, but there were a few fluffy clouds in the sky that passed in front of the sun every now and again. There were colorful flowers floating along the top of the water, bright red hibiscus petals that must have blown from a nearby bush.

He waded into the water fully clothed, while Kylo stripped and cannonballed in naked as the day he was born. The resulting splash would have annoyed Hux if he didn’t have caked blood drying into his eyebrows, so he let it slide.

“Did you like it?” Kylo asked, swimming over to where Hux was scrubbing the fight away.

“Did I like you going on a rampage?” Hux asked, teasingly. Kylo looked away, shy, but Hux grabbed his hand and pressed a kiss to the dinged knuckle and gave him a warm smile. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I did.”

“Good, because in five days we’ll be doing it again.” Kylo brightened, taking his hand back and dunking his hair under the water.

“Five days? That’s when she gets into Peru?” Hux asked when he resurfaced. The water came back a cloudy purple color, but the current carried the blood away.

Kylo looked completely endearing, with his luscious hair now handing in front of his face. He parted it like a curtain so he could see Hux giving him a big smile. Kylo’s ears were large, very much so, and Hux had never realized because his hair was usually down to cover them. He waded over to where Kylo was standing and tugged on those ears to pull Kylo into a kiss. When they parted for air, Hux could feel Kylo’s hot blush under his palms as he cupped his cheeks. Kylo dunked his head back under, flinging his hair back and smacking Hux in the face with the water. Hux rolled his eyes and flicked water back in Kylo’s direction, glad Kylo didn’t have to wear his hair slicked back like this all the time; his glorious mane was meant to be kept down and let loose.

“According to Phasma, they’re having trouble in many of their colonies. There’s talk of revolution in Latin America, so Organa is going over to see if she can ease some tension.” Kylo finally replied, after a few moments more of playful splashing.

“I doubt they’ll revolt for another hundred years yet.” Hux scoffed. From what the Navy had told him in his briefing before boarding the _Finalizer_ all that time ago, too many foreign diseases were being introduced to the local environment, and there were epidemics on Spanish hands.

“Maybe, but she’s still worried. If they lose their grip on the New World, England or France will come in. There’s talk that the American colonies are getting restless, and England’s presence will soon be stronger. The Spanish don’t want to risk any opportunity for the Brits to take advantage.” Kylo explained, and Hux couldn’t help but laugh.

“The American colonies? Everyone has ideas of grandeur, don’t they?” He splashed water on his face, scrubbing away the blood. He took off his clothing and swam over to the bank of the river, setting them to dry on a warm rock.

“You don’t think they could do it?” Kylo raised an eyebrow, immediately holding Hux’s naked body close to his own.

“I think that they could if they had help, certainly not on their own.” Hux scoffed again, the idea truly preposterous. “The only nation I can think of with enough power to help the colonists would be France, and they go through new government almost as fast as plays come into popularity.” Hux pointed out. Kylo grinned at the jest and kissed him.

“Organa is worried that if the Americans revolt and succeed, that there would be nothing stopping other countries from doing the same. You’re right about France, they’re just about sick of King Louis, there’s trouble brewing all over.” Kylo agreed. Hux preened, he liked being told he was right, even though he knew he always was.

“Well, she’ll certainly be surprised to meet her end at the hands of pirates then.” Hux laughed, imagining the old general’s face when they lure her in to sink her ship. Kylo grinned darkly, sucking on the bruise he deepened only that morning.

“That she will.” He agreed, rubbing his lips onto Hux’s throat. Hux hummed, but tilted his head away, trying to stay on track.

“Do we have white sails? There is no way we can perform the ruse de guerre with black sails.” He swam towards the bank, Kylo following behind.

“It’s on the list of things to buy down at the markets tomorrow after we clean the ship.” He replied, pleased he planned correctly. Hux smiled and pulled Kylo towards him. Kylo leaned in for a kiss but Hux held him just out of reach.

“Good boy. And you said you have her colors on board?” Hux asked, voice low. Kylo flushed a beautiful red, all the way down to his chest.

“Yes, red and gold.” Kylo nodded eagerly, happy to please.

“How patriotic.” Hux snorted. He pulled Kylo’s face up to his by his ears once again, and whispered into his mouth, “We’ll stay the night then, and leave tomorrow evening to set sail for the western coast.”

“We’ve got to get all the way around the continent, we can’t waste any time.” Kylo nodded, pressing himself against Hux. Hux could feel how hard Kylo was, all from some words of praise and some simple touches. Hux hadn’t been unaffected either, but the sensation of being so public was new to him.

“I agree. Shall we dry off and go oversee the careening?” Hux asked, pushing himself onto the bank of the river, settling down on the large rock they had left their clothes to dry on.

The rock was warm from the sun, not so hot to burn the skin of Hux’s back, but warm enough to seep into Hux’s bones and ward off the chill from the breeze hitting his wet skin. Kylo nodded hungrily, and climbed onto the rock too, blocking the sun from reaching Hux’s eyes. His wet hair dripped down in front of Hux’s face, and he wound a hand up into it to pull it back.

“Can I have you baby? Please?” Kylo asked, pressing wet kisses to Hux’s freckled shoulder.

“No, not here.” Hux sighed, hating that he had to deny Kylo when neither of them wanted to do. Kylo nodded in understanding and began to pull away, but Hux sat up suddenly and after making sure the coast was clear, wrapped a hand around Kylo’s cock. He let a happy breath escape at Kylo’s whine and tightened his grip.

“Fuck, Hux.” He moaned when Hux twisted right near the head. Hux had them positioned so that it looked like they were just two men drying off, but Kylo’s cries would give them away in an instant, especially if the wind carried their voices.

“I still can’t believe how big you are.” Hux marveled, guiding Kylo’s hand onto his neglected cock. “How many people have you destroyed with this thing?” Hux asked, licking his lips.

“No one, only you.” Kylo breathed, trying to match Hux’s rhythm.

“Oh, Kylo, my good boy.” Hux let his earlier jealousy slip away, he was the only person to have Kylo like this, and something dark and possessive curled in his stomach. He thought about letting Kylo ravage him, just to take him right there on that hot rock under the sun.

“I want to be the best for you.” Kylo licked into Hux’s mouth, and Hux’s grip on him faltered, his orgasm surprising him. Kylo brought himself off, coming all over Hux’s chest.

“You are.” Hux assured him, carding his fingers through Kylo’s still-wet hair.

They wiped themselves off and laid on the rock until their clothes were dry enough to wear. The black fabric did have its advantages, there was almost no way to tell they had been in a bar fight aside from a few small tears and a missing button or two.

After a while, the clouds covered the sun for long enough to let a light breeze through, and Kylo suggested they take care of the _Silencer_ before spending any more time relaxing. Hux was pleasantly surprised at his initiative, but had a feeling it was mostly so he could get back to the suite as soon as possible. Either way, Hux agreed, and they walked back to the shore where the Silencer had been dragged up onto shore during high tide. 

Stuart had done his job well, the boatswain had ordered the lightening of the ship, and there were massive amounts of crates and barrels being guarded by cabin boys and deck hands alike, too small to do any of the hard labor. They had arrived just as the water supply was being dumped into the ocean, the sound of several tonnes of water smacking into the sea reminded Hux of waterfalls he had seen as a child; it was always a very nostalgic feeling for Hux, careening a ship.

“All right, get the strongest men out here with the ropes!” Kylo called, and some of the burliest men aboard came ambling over through the water. “You’re to do as the admiral says, understand?” He addressed them, and they nodded, saluting to both Hux and Kylo.

“Aye, sir!” They all said in unison, looking to Hux for instruction.

“Form lines, and on my mark we shall each pull with all our weight. Between the buoyancy of the tide, and the slope of the shore, it should only take an hour or two.” Hux ordered.

“You’re going to be doing it to?” Kylo asked, frowning. Hux nodded.

“Well of course, we need every hand we can get.” Hux replied with a smile. Kylo gave him a look that Hux thought maybe was surprise and pride mixed together, before shucking his jacket and taking hold of one of the ropes. The men watched both their captain and his companion with rapt attention.

“Le’see if we can get it done soona’ than tha’ for the Admiral, boys!” Rod, the leader of this group of men called out, and the rest all cheered in agreement, quickly taking position along the ropes.

“Heave!” With the strength of fifty men, Hux took a deep breath and called the first command. They all braced themselves and pulled on the rope.

“Heave!” Hux called again, and they pulled once more.

“Come on men, I know one of you can sing, does no one have a song for pulling ropes?” Kylo shouted over the collective groan of the men, at the same time as Hux called to pull.

“I did hear a song being sung above deck early in the morning one day,” Rod called out, and Hux had to fight a blush, because he knew exactly what song it was the moment Rod opened his mouth,

 _When I was a little lad or so my mammy told me, to me_ __  
Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe  
_That if I didn't kiss the girls, me lips would all grow moldy,_  
_Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe_

“Pull on ‘Joe!’” Hux shouted this instead of heave, and got shouts in response. This time, Rod sang the main verse, and the rest of the men sang in unison for the responding line. Kylo sang, his voice deep and rich, and a coaxing look from him had Hux joining in too.

 _Way, haul away, we'll haul away together_  
_Way, haul away, we'll haul away, Joe!_  
_Way haul away, we'll haul for better weather_  
_Way, haul away, we'll haul away, Joe!_

With each sound of ‘Joe,’ the men didn’t sing the word, instead either grunting it out or replacing the word altogether with ‘pull’ or ‘heave.’

Hux cleared his throat, letting his accent come out in that over-exaggerated way he liked to sing in, and took the lead on the main verse; thrilled to have the men respond in kind,  
  
_For once I had an Irish girl but she got fat and lazy,_    
_Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe_    
_For now I got an Cornish girl, and she can drive me mazy,  
Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe._

They had made it a few feet, and none of the men were ready to throw in the towel. Getting the momentum going was the hardest part in Hux’s opinion, especially on a ship of this size and weight. He was pleased to see the progress being made, however slowly it was being done. Hux looked to Kylo, and with a sweaty nod, Hux kept singing,  
  
_Way, haul away, we'll haul away together_  
_Way, haul away, we'll haul away, Joe!_  
_Way haul away, we'll haul for better weather_  
_Way, haul away, we'll haul away, Joe!_

Kylo grinned cheekily at him, which was a feat in and of itself, considering he had sweat dripping down his face. Hux grinned as Kylo took control of the next verse, unbeknownst to the crew, making a little inside joke with the lyrics,

 _King Louis was the king of France before the revolution,_  
_Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe_  
_And then he got his head cut off, it spoiled his constitution,_  
_Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe_  
  
_Way, haul away, we'll haul away together_  
_Way, haul away, we'll haul away, Joe!_  
_Way haul away, we'll haul for better weather_  
_Way, haul away, we'll haul away, Joe!_

Rod took over then, as Hux’s focus had shifted to pulling the _Silencer_ further and further up the shore.

 _A-hey can’t you see the black clouds arising_  
_A-hey can’t you see the storm clouds are gathering_  
  
_Way, haul away, we'll haul away together_  
_Way, haul away, we'll haul away, Joe!_  
_Way haul away, we'll haul for better weather_  
_Way, haul away, we'll haul away, Joe!_

It was a short song, and when it ended, Rod struck up another one. And then another one. Hux and Kylo both were grateful to have someone in their group who knew exactly which ballads to sing to keep the morale of the pirates up, as they kept pulling forward. No one spoke aside from the singing, no one interrupted their rhythm, and after only six or seven songs and the aid of the tide, they had the _Silencer_ ashore.

The men cheered when she was up, and gently pushed over, although those cheers quickly turned to groans of disgust when they saw what had been clinging to the bottom of their ship this entire time.

“See tha’, cap’n! Admiral was righ’, we should’a made the French do this fer us a long time ago!” Rod wiped the sweat off his head with his sleeve, and pointed to the hundreds of yards of seaweed and shells, not to mention the clumps of barnacles.

“Getting rid of this shite should cut our speed in half.” Hux nodded, grimacing at how gross the sight was – and he had cut off a man’s leg earlier that day.

“You all go take a break down at the tavern, you’ve earned it. Make sure no blood spills this time.” Kylo clapped them all on the back and they laughed, no doubt hearing news of the fight that had broken out.

“Aye sir!” They happily saluted before leaving.

“I want all able bodied seamen with a scrape and buckets to clean this hull while the tide is low.” Kylo shouted, getting the attention of the other fifty men that were now scrambling to find things to clean the hull with. “Do you do this part too?” Kylo asked Hux, who laughed and shook his head.

“This part, no. I’ve done it enough in my career, I think.” Hux sighed, feeling the ache in his muscles already.

“Then why don’t we go visit Phasma? I’m sure she’ll have the clothing ready by now.” Kylo suggested.

“Should we leave them unsupervised?” He asked, frowning. He didn’t like walking away from a job like this.

“Our men are competent, Hux.” Kylo smiled, and Hux’s heart thrummed. _Our men._

“I don’t see why not, then.”

“As soon as the bottom of this ship sparkles like the moon in me bad eye, you’re all free to join the others at the tavern.” Kylo called, earning cheers from the men. Kylo looped an arm around Hux’s shoulder and led him away back towards _Gwendoline’s._

 

“You’re early.” Phasma greeted them. Hux immediately went to say so to Kylo, but Kylo just laughed.

“You’ve got it all though, don’t you?” He asked in a friendly tease. She rolled her eyes and nodded, beckoning them over.

Near the register was boxes and boxes of folded clothing, all with the letters A.H. stamped on the front. Ten outfits in a plethora of different colors and patterns sat before them, and Hux had to restrain himself from reaching out and touching the fine brocade that he saw peeking out from one of the boxes.

“Five formal, five informal with copies for variety. As requested.” She smugly crossed her arms in front of her chest, and watched as Hux pulled out a beautiful garment that Hux had no idea what to call. “That, is a greatcoat.”

“What on earth is a greatcoat?” Hux asked, awed.

“They’re quite new, I suspect they’ll rival the cloak in a few years. The ones I’ve seen have all been woolen, but this is made of oiled silk, so it shouldn’t boil you while you wear it on the _Silencer._ The coating makes it waterproof, quite the handy feature for a future co-commander.” She grinned, very pleased with her work and having every right to be.  

“May I try it on?” His voice betraying his composure and showing just how thrilled he was at the prospect. The fabric was so luxurious in his hands, he needed to wear it and to never take it off.

“They’re all yours my dear, I do suppose you could try on any garment you’d like.” Phasma laughed, not unkindly. He took the box into a dressing room, and shut the door in Kylo’s face.

“I want it to be a surprise.” He explained when he was met with Kylo’s whine.

The greatcoat looked much like a regular coat, except that it had a much larger collar, a short cape over the shoulders, deep cuffs, and was just slightly longer than knee length. It was a beautiful black silk that had red embroidery around the cuffs and collar, and Hux ached to put it on. Sitting in the box along with it were a matching set of a coat, waistcoat, breeches, and even a beautiful linen shirt – all black. He shucked his old torn clothing off and pulled on the brand new ones, marveling at how well they fit. There was not an ounce of fabric hanging loose or a stitch too tight, it was perfect.

Hux pulled on a clean pair of white leggings, and tied a red silk cravat around his neck. He shrugged on the greatcoat, slipped back into his boots, and stepped out of the dressing room. Kylo looked up to greet him, and his jaw fell open.

“You look…” He trailed off, coming close. He circled around Hux, much like he had the very first day they met, and then shook his head. Hux was worried for a moment that he looked foolish, a pale man with bright red hair all dressed in black must have looked ghastly, but then Kylo was kissing him.

“Phasma I may have to have you arrested, it should be illegal how perfect he looks.” Kylo said to his friend, not taking his eyes off of Hux for one moment.

“Ah but if you do, who will you antagonize every time you come to port?” Phasma grinned, admiring her work.

“That is true. But look at him! He’s gorgeous, isn’t he?” Kylo beamed, laughing in sheer joy. Hux had once again found himself feeling like buried treasure, unearthed before Kylo’s very eyes.

“Yes, he really does.” Phasma nodded in agreement. Kylo stepped away to stop himself from pulling all the layers _off_ of him.

“Well you must look away, he’s all mine. He’s mine and we are going to rule the oceans together.” Kylo proclaimed in that deep voice of his, shouting it so that everyone in the store would hear. Hux blushed furiously and swatted at Kylo, not wanting to make such a scene.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you, Ren. Not all of these boxes belong to the _Starkiller_.” She pointed to some that had beautiful K.R.s stamped into them. Hux wondered if they would have anything that matched.

“You heard about that, did you?” Hux asked at the sound of the name he all but branded himself with at the tavern.

“Darling the entire island heard about that.” Phasma shook her head, coming around the counter to put a hand on Hux’s shoulder. “Just think of how good you’ll look when you bring us the General’s head.” She grinned.

“It’s a pity she has to die, I’d love for her to see how splendid Hux looks in all his outfits.” Kylo lamented, his melodrama an obvious act.

“Just think, it will be one hell of a last look.” Hux licked his lips, eager for blood. There was definitely something to be said for dressing well. Hux certainly wasn’t lacking in confidence, but knowing that he looked good, and knowing he looked intimidating was a powerful thing.

The entire time he had been aboard the _Silencer,_ he had been wearing Kylo’s clothing. There was nothing wrong with Kylo’s clothing apart from being just slightly too large, but the point was now Hux had his own clothing. His own standard, his own image. People would look at Hux and know the Starkiller, not just Kylo Ren’s lover. He thought of his father seeing him like this, wearing more expensive fabrics then Brendol could ever dream of. While Kylo pulled some of his own things from the boxes, Hux fantasized about showing up on the Thames, Jolly Roger flying proudly from the _Silencer’s_ mast. After they had killed Organa, Hux decided he would propose a new target – the old Grand Admiral himself.

“Hux?” Kylo asked, a twinge on concern in his voice. Hux cleared his throat, realizing they must have been speaking to him this entire time and feeling like a fool.

“My apologizes, I was just making some plans.” He blushed.

Kylo held his arms out, asking for Hux to appraise him. He wore a new coat, finer velvet than his previous one, this time patterned with elegant swirls. The buttons were large and heavy silver once more, but he left them open in favor of showing off his new waistcoat, a beautiful dark grey brocade. He wore a ruffled white undershirt beneath it all, the sleeves peeking through the cuffs of the coat, making him look more like royalty than just a captain. Maybe they could conquer a small country, and then they could both be King.

“I daresay we’re the most dashing criminals on the Seven Seas.” Hux grinned, and Kylo laughed.

“Shall we check on the progress of the ship?” Hux asked. Kylo shook his head, and called over one of the women that worked at Phasma’s store.

“Can you please bring this up to our room?” he asked, and the woman brightly smiled.

“Of course sir.” She replied, and had a few other women come over to help with the boxes, as there were too many for just one person to carry. Kylo gave her a piece of gold, and she smiled.

“Thank you.” He said to her, before she and the others left. He turned to Phasma and sighed dreamily. “I’m going to take Hux to meet an old friend of mine for dinner.” He announced, making Hux’s eyebrows raise. An old friend? Hux didn’t really think Kylo had many friends, outside the crew and the Knights.

“Oh? Who?” Phasma asked, suspicion clear in her voice.

Kylo either ignored the question, or pretended not to hear it, instead turning to face Hux, who was growing suspicious himself.

“He docked not too long after we started the careening, and I know he’d just love to meet you.” He smiled, placing a hand on Hux’s cheek. Phasma was not one to be ignored, and she walked right up to Kylo and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Ren, who is it?” She asked him again, and this time he replied.

“Oh, Captain Snoke!” He replied, and immediately Phasma dropped her hand. Kylo didn’t notice, continuing to talk to Hux, “He was my mentor, I bet you’ll get along great.”

Hux had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach at Phasma’s hardened expression. Something about the way she looked at that name, made Hux think he didn’t want any part of whoever this Snoke person was.

“I’m sure I will too. When do we leave?” Hux asked, trying to stay optimistic. If Kylo was friends with this person, than he would try and be friends with him too. For all he knew, maybe Snoke and Phasma had had a falling out, or a personal issue. Maybe he wasn’t a bad man at all, just had an unsavory sense of humor; Hux knew many of those sort in London.

“He’s old, so he eats much earlier than the rest of us. I was thinking we could go over now.” Kylo said, and Hux caught a glimpse of the clock hanging up on the wall; it wasn’t even six o’clock in the evening yet.

“You know, I didn’t actually have any lunch today.” Hux chuckled, forgetting to eat in the frenzy that was the fight. Kylo frowned, concerned.

“Why didn’t you say? You must be starving.” He asked. Hux shrugged.

“I’ve gone without food for longer than this. But an early dinner will be a welcome thing.” He smiled, earning a smile in return.

Kylo gave a nod goodbye to Phasma, and motioned for Hux to follow him to the door. Just before Hux slipped across the threshold, Phasma grabbed at his wrist.

“Hux, wait!” She hissed. He looked to Kylo, who was still walking away, and then back at Phasma. She didn’t look any better than she did when Kylo first told them who they were meeting.

“Everything alright Phasma?” He asked, genuinely concerned for her.

“Be careful with Snoke. He has his grip very tight on Kylo, he might not like the relationship you have with him. He’s a nasty pirate, as nasty as they come.” She warned, all trace of playfulness or humor gone.

“Thank you, I’ll be careful.” He took the gesture to heart, and she released her grip on him.

“I just had to say that. Now go, I’ll see you again before you leave.” She smiled, closing the door behind him. Hux hurried to catch up to Kylo, startling him by linking their hands together.

“Today has been wonderful.” Hux sighed dreamily. Kylo blushed, and brought their joined hands up to his lips for a kiss. “I hope Snoke likes me.”

“You’re smart, you’re experienced, and you’re blood thirsty. There isn’t a pirate in the world who wouldn’t want to be your friend.” Kylo kissed Hux’s hand again.

“I can name some.” Hux laughed, thinking of the silver leg he was now in possession of.

“We got rid of them.” Kylo replied, walking closer to Hux.

“We’ll just get rid of anyone who doesn’t like us then?” Hux teased, but Kylo looked him dead in the eye and nodded.

“Yes, we will. I promise you Hux, I’ll give you everything you’ve ever wanted.” He replied with such heat and passion that all Hux wanted was to drag him back to their suite and have him ravish Hux’s skin with new marks.

“Do we really have to go to dinner?” He asked, voice barely above a whisper. He let a hand trail down just low enough so Kylo got the hint, and it was his turn to whine when Kylo brushed his hand away with a sad smile.

“I’m afraid so, Snoke wouldn’t like me avoiding him. One dinner, and then we can spend the rest of our time together.” Kylo promised, tugging Hux along.

“I like the sound of that.” Hux blushed. He really did like the sound of that.

 

They passed a group of pirates wearing Maul’s colors, hoisting up the dead bodies of their former crewmen up the planks and onto their ships. Hux’s smile fell, replaced with an angry sneer. He didn’t know if it was a bad omen, the solemn singing, but he wasn’t happy. The wind carried their voices from all the way across the shore, and as they boarded Snoke’s ship, they could hear Maul’s men singing Kylo’s song as they prepared to leave the island,

 _For in fancy I've listened to the well known words,_  
_The free wild winds and the songs of the birds,_  
_I have thought of home, of cot, and of bower,_  
_And of scenes that I loved in childhood's hour,_  


_I had even hoped to be laid when I died,_  
_In the churchyard there on the green hill side,_  
_By the homes of my father my grave should be,_  
_O bury me not in the deep deep sea._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading!! Your comments mean the world to me, they really do, I'm so happy so many of you enjoy this fic, and are patient with me when it comes to updates! I hope this one didn't disappoint! :)  
> Now of course, time for pirate facts!!
> 
> -Port towns need goods to trade back and forth, and the Caribbean had a plethora of access to Spanish ships/colonies, so many of the goods sold or traded were usually stolen from them. Smuggling was a very lucrative business if you didn't get caught, able to pull in your weight in gold for some of the higher saught after commodities. As it went, the most common goods that smugglers could get their hands on were tobacco and sugar, both from the Spanish and from the American colonies. Local smugglers sold their tobacco or sugar for then bought manufactured goods from the trans-Atlantic/slave traders in large quantities to be shared with their friends and families.  
> -Pirates, like many vain and flamboyant people, liked to show off their wealth and status by adorning themselves with jewelry. The most popular were rings and earrings, because necklaces could be used to strangle someone, as we see with poor Maul. Kylo giving Hux a solid spanish gold earring was not only a sweet gesture, but a strategic move to say 'i am rich, he is rich, and we are powerful.'  
> -Anti-Irish sentiment has unfortunately been around since as far back as the medieval period, and most arrows point to Gerald of Wales being the first to publicly and constantly negatively stereotype Irish people. Here, Maul is mentioning the French writer Volataire, who is famous for many essays criticizing the Catholic Church, and involving quite a lot of anti-Irish sentiment. Maul calls Hux two names here, both derogatory. I'm just as glad as you are that he's dead.  
> -Politics in the late 1700s were a right mess, as everyone was on the brink of complete revolution. Hux and Kylo discussing the potential for an American Revolution was pretty funny for me to write, because, oh little do they know lol. Peru in particular was undergoing some horrific epidemics at the time, and as a result, their silver output was much lower than it had been previously, silver being the main export from Latin America at the time.  
> -I really like Haul Away Joe, it's one of my favorite shanties, I hope you all don't mind me giving you the full lyrics! Again, you can listen to the song [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvBHdw-EqLM), if it strikes your fancy!  
> \- Careening literally took hours, from pulling the boat ashore to scraping everything off. It's hard, gross work that most merchant crewman demanded extra pay for. Pirates didn't have the luxury of a salary, they lived on the boat 24/7, so they were happier than most to have the boat sailing faster after a very hard day's work. Typically, because of how gross the job was, the pirates would then have a very long celebratory party, where they (you guessed it) got drunk out of their minds and sang and danced. Don't worry, the crew of the Silencer get their party while Hux and Kylo dine with Snoke! 
> 
> If you'd like to chat with me about pirates, kylux, or anything else, you can find me on tumblr @cowboykylux ! Don't forget to follow my wonderful friend's art blogs, the link is in the above notes!!  
> Thank you all so much, and see you next week! xxx


	5. Broken Hearts of Royal Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ugly truths are revealed, and not is all that it seems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahoy! First i'd like to apologize. I know this update was a long time coming, and much shorter than normal, but I've been scrambling to get prepared for a category 5 hurricane that's to hit my home this weekend. I will certainly be out of power for at least a day or two, and so I wanted to just upload this chapter with what i've got written so far, so that you wonderful readers will not have to wait ages for a proper update. I hope you can forgive me! 
> 
> Secondly, angst ahead. Tread carefully.   
> (un-beta'd, any and all mistakes are my own!)

Hux did not know if the buzzing in his palms that caused his nails to clamp down in small crescents were leftover adrenaline from the bloody brawl he had engaged in hours earlier that day, or if it were simply the pressure of meeting someone close to Kylo, but it was there and he begged it to leave. Hux had to remind himself he was a feared man in his own right, as he stood before the ramp that ascended to this Captain Snoke character’s ship. He took deep yet unnoticeable breaths, a steady mantra of _I am an Admiral, I am the Starkiller,_ on loop in his mind, quite reminiscent to the way one of the island parrots might pick up a phrase and squawk it back.

Despite his attempts to remain calm, Kylo picked up on his nuanced breathing, his slightly sweaty brow, and the overall tension that resided in his shoulders. He let a hand drop and slip around Hux’s pulse, brushing a careful thumb against the exposed skin of his wrist.

“You’re going to be fine.” Kylo assured him, giving his hand an affectionate and comforting squeeze.

Somehow, he doubted that. The look in Phasma’s eye as she gripped his sleeve haunted him – her warning had been just vague enough to send Hux spiraling down a very uneven cobbled road of _what if_ s. There could be no way for Snoke to know of Hux’s presence aboard the _Silencer,_ what with no communication able to leave or board the ship and all. On his own ship he had all the advantages at his disposal, easily able to kill off and hide Hux in a moment of carefully crafted distraction.

“The last engagement I had with a pirate ended in murder.” Hux pointed out, trying to keep his tone light and teasing but falling flat. Kylo gave a little snort, scrunching up his nose and giving a small shake of his head.

“I think you’ll find Snoke to be slightly more civilized.” He mused, causing Hux to quirk a brow. Pirates weren’t exactly known for being civil; Kylo came out of the tavern more bloody than Hux ever could have.

“God, I hope so.” Hux did his best to suppress a groan, and Kylo sighed. He turned to face Hux fully, one hand still holding onto Hux’s tightly, the other rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous gesture that did absolutely nothing to put Hux at ease.

“Before we do go up, there are some things I feel I should warn you about.” Kylo started, refusing to meet Hux’s eye.

“Warn me how?” He asked, suspicion leaking into his voice as his eyes narrowed slowly. If Snoke were prejudiced against any of the groups Hux identified as, he didn’t care about propriety or reputation, he’d throttle the man. He had no patience for blatant bigotry.

“Snoke has seen cannon fire in all his wise years, and it shows on his face.” Kylo sighed again, confusing and surprising Hux. That was it? The old wizened captain had a messed up face? Hux let out a low chuckle, and placed a hand on Kylo’s cheek when he looked up from the floor sharply.

“I’m not one to be bothered by physical appearances, Kylo.” Hux reminded him, finger tracing the rough edge where his face had been split in two. Kylo melted into the touch for a moment before straightening up.

“I know you aren’t, but this isn’t just a scar, and I wanted you to be prepared.” He replied, grinning at him like Hux hung the stars in the sky. All his pretty teeth were on display, sun glinting in the gold. Despite Phasma’s cryptic message, he would do his best to positively impress whoever Snoke was. He would put on his most charming yet reserved smile, have the sharpest shoulders and the straightest back. He would follow conversation and laugh at the right moments, he would do anything if it meant he got Kylo to smile at him like that.

“Was that all?” Hux asked, amusement in his voice. Seeing the stress evaporate from Kylo’s frame was cathartic in its own right.

“Mostly. I also thought you should know that he’s horrible at the best of times, and I wanted to apologize in advance should he say anything untoward to you.” Kylo smiled apologetically, like one might for their embarrassing uncle. Hux thought back to Kylo’s words those days ago, only killing the crew that embarrassed him. He supposed mentors are the exception to the rule.

“Do you think he will? On his first meeting with me?” Hux asked, surprised. In his experience, even the most unsavory diplomats would wait until the lock latched closed behind their guest to stark the gossip.

“I think Snoke has been around long enough to do whatever the hell he sees fit. If it’s at all possible, I would like to avoid this dinner without bloodshed.” Kylo replied, a glimmer in his eye. That look told Hux otherwise, but he just grinned and pressed a kiss to Kylo’s cheek.

“I make no promises.” He winked, making Kylo laugh.

The ship was nowhere near as large or as impressive as the _Silencer,_ or even the _Finalizer,_ Hux thought when they finally boarded the ship. At first glance, Hux couldn’t even tell it was a pirate ship at all, resembling a small merchant vessel much more than one meant to sink ships. He could tell the French had designed it, from the curve of the hull to the rigging of the sails. Unlike the _Silencer,_ this ship had white sails, it wasn’t painted black, and it didn’t fly any flags. Hux frowned, all ships had to fly flags, it was an unspoken rule, law almost.

There was no one aboard when their heavy boots padded against the wooden planks of the main deck, the ship eerily silent. Only the gentle lap of the waves on the shore and the creaking caused by rocking could be heard, the wind carrying the noise from the port far away from them. Hux was not superstitious, he was probably the only sailor in the world who wasn’t, but he could not deny the chills that ran down his arms being on this ship.

Kylo didn’t speak, he didn’t move, he simply stood with his hands clasped behind his back tall and proud, waiting for something. Hux did the same, not daring to break a protocol he had not been briefed with. Instead of asking the million questions running through his mind, he inspected the ship’s smaller details, and found the lack thereof to be mildly disturbing.

Hux supposed it didn’t help that it was nearing toward sunset. Not quite yet, but the strong gold of the sky was a hint that the sun would soon be making its departure. The remaining light of day made the emptiness more noticeable, shadows longer and darker yes, colors more vibrantly saturated of course, but overwhelmingly empty. If they had arrived after nightfall there would not be a thought in his mind about the lack of crew, because he wouldn’t have been able to see it. But he could see, and he didn’t entirely like what he saw.

Aboard all the ships Hux had ever served on, there had been signs of life. He had kept them all in pristine condition of course, but when two hundred men were housed together, there would always be evidence. It usually materialized in the form of dings and scuffs of boots climbing up masts, or of carefully braided rope that would be done in times of boredom. There may be small notches marked in the hull where sailors could keep track of their days, or the gentle slope of a path worn down from dancing and merrymaking in the drunken evenings. Aboard this ship, Hux could find none of these things.

Even the smallest of ships with the most skeletal crews equaled to be about thirty people, how could it be that this captain appeared to be alone? It was nearly unfathomable to think that Snoke fulfilled every single position entirely on his own, simultaneously at the helm and down below deck. It simply wasn’t possible. Hell, raising the anchor alone took six strong men!

Hux was unnerved, he knew how to keep ships clean, but no captain could keep a ship _this_ clean. Beside him, Kylo seemed to not notice Hux’s mounting discomfort, lost in his own thoughts. His eyes had slipped closed, and he stood with his legs spread just enough to let his center of gravity balance out with the rocking of the ship. Hux almost asked how long they were expected to wait like this, but thought better of it. He had gone through worse during his Academy days than standing in silence.

Suddenly, a door creaked, causing Kylo’s eyes to snap open and draw both their attention to the other side of the ship. Out from the shadows emerged a tall and painfully thin, elderly man. Kylo held his breath in eager anticipation, and Hux internally frowned in confusion at the sight of the supposed captain; he was so _frail_ looking. Frail, and horribly familiar. The sort of familiar that drives men mad, searching their memories and wracking their brains trying to find how they know that face. Hux’s memory was excellent, and he was coming up short. It was not a welcome feeling.

Hux was sure he would remember such a man as this, even without the facial deformities that carved their way into Snoke’s skin. The man was bald, not a single hair on his head or on his face. Despite that, his skin was paler than parchment, almost unheard of for a man of the sea. Hux himself was fair skinned, but even he had a slight redness to his brow from the sun. He wore thick golden chains around his neck, and had small hoops and diamond studs decorating his ears, years of that weight pulling his lobes down slightly. Hux tried to imagine Snoke without the burns, without the deep divot in his skull that sunk his forehead in like some great chasm, without the taught and exposed muscle in his cheek that restricted his expressions. Even without all these things, Hux simply couldn’t place it. It unnerved him greatly.

“Ren, what a pleasant surprise!” Snoke breathed, voice impossibly deep and just as warped as the skin on his face and throat. He did not come much closer than a few yards in front of them, but even from this distance Hux could see the old man’s watery eyes. It pained Hux with how familiar they were, how _cold._

“Good evening Captain, I saw your ship in the dock, welcome to New Providence.” Kylo removed his hat and dipped his head in a show of respect that Snoke simply chuckled at. It contorted his face into a grimace that might have put weaker men off their supper, but Hux held his ground. It truly was not the most gruesome thing he had ever seen, and he more than enough manners not to stare.

“Thank you m’boy, a warm welcome indeed. Who might this young man be?” Snoke asked, turning his gaze to Hux. Under that look, Hux straightened impossibly further, not wanting to give any reason for Snoke to dislike him, at least without spending the evening together.

“This is my partner, Armitage Hux.” Kylo replied, pride heavy in his voice. Snoke and Hux both looked at Kylo, surprised.

“Partner?” Snoke asked, not unkindly. He sounded curious, as if such a concept were foreign to him. Hux could nearly feel his heart beating in his throat. He knew he wanted more out of this relationship, that he _got_ more out of it than just fucking, but to hear those feelings reflected was more rewarding than any alliance or friendship made with all the pirates in the world.

“Yes. In all things.” Kylo nodded, resolute. Hux allowed a very small smile to crack the stoic mask he had concocted, simply not able to keep all the radiant joy inside him. Snoke made a noise of deliberation, a humming sound that felt like he had to think about giving Kylo permission. Hux panicked, Phasma’s warning echoing once more in his head,

_He has his grip very tight on Kylo, he might not like the relationship you have with him. He’s a nasty pirate, as nasty as they come._

Instead of barking orders in Kylo’s face, he simply smiled. Somehow, that was worse.

“How grand. I am pleased you sought me out, Ren. We have much to discuss, would you and your partner like to join me for dinner? I was just about to be served me’self.” Snoke offered, one hand gesturing towards the direction of the dining hall.

“It would be an honor sir.” Hux gave a similar removal of his hat and a nod of respect, and Snoke’s face stretched into what looked like a painful grin.

“Excellent, if you would please follow me.” He was surprisingly quick for someone who had lived such a long life, brushing past them in only a few long strides.

Kylo gave Hux a meaningful look, and squeezed his hand tightly. Hux could simply imagine how thrilled Kylo must have been to have their union approved by his mentor, and it was all Hux could do to smile and squeeze back.

 

If Hux had thought Kylo’s quarters were opulent, he didn’t have a word for how overwhelming Snoke’s quarters were. For such a small ship, the private dining area was absolutely palatial. Hux nearly had to hold his lip down it was threatening to curl so desperately, the whole thing entirely too… _rococo._ Where there should have been wooden plank flooring was marble tile. Actual marble tile. How that didn’t completely slow down the ship, Hux had no idea. Sitting on top of the marble was a grand rug, one large thing that had been made with all sorts of flourishes and floral embellishments. There were even statues modeled after Greek masterpieces bolted to the floor so they wouldn’t slide around when the ship hit the rougher waters.

Snoke sat down in a plush red velvet chair, and Kylo and Hux followed suit. From this angle, Hux could get a better glance at the full floor to ceiling portraits that occupied the entire wall space, war heroes on bucking horses staring at him from every corner, the golden light of a dozen candelabras dancing shadows on the oils. He wondered if they were stolen, or if not, how much money he had to have to be able to purchase such incredible artwork.

Snoke matched the walls perfectly, his jacket and waistcoat made of a gold lamé, his trousers a light cream silk color, harmonizing all too well with the pearl of the marble. His sleeves were ruffled to perfection, ivory eyelet lace trim the same fabric as his cravat. It was in such stark contrast to Hux’s new clothing from Phasma that he nearly forgot this man was supposed to be a pirate.

“I thought you might be docked here, so I had some lobster prepared.” Snoke’s gravelly voice broken the relatively uncomfortable silence. Hux noted he didn’t mention who prepared the lobster.

“Thank you, Captain.” Kylo sat up impossibly straighter. It was strange, seeing how different Kylo held himself in the presence of his former mentor. Hux wanted to slip a hand under the linen cloth and grasp Kylo’s hand, but it wouldn’t have been proper. Snoke rolled his eyes and scoffed.

“Ren please, I’ve known you since you were a child. I think it’s about time you call me by my name.” He said, making Kylo smile. Funny that he doesn’t call Kylo by his name, but asks to be called by his, Hux thought. Snoke took a sip of wine and that signaled that they could as well.

Hux hadn’t forgotten his pedigree, and was all too aware of the social rules that accompanied fine dining such as this. Growing up, each meal that wasn’t at a party such as this one was simply two meals and then possibly dessert, if he had behaved. On one extravagant occasion that his mother had taken him to, Hux remembered fondly the twenty dishes that made up the evening.

On the table was a much smaller array of plates, as per custom the dishes were arranged with precision; the large steamed lobster sat directly in the middle of the table, and sides were balanced around it. All manner of soups and potatoes were served, alongside steamed vegetables and even decadent fruits.

“Thank you then, Snoke.” Kylo smiled, his ears going a beautiful pink. Snoke slurped at the soup, a thick cream of mushroom, and have another twisted grimace of a smile.

“Atta’boy. Now, why don’t you tell me all about how you and your partner met?” He asked, tone giving no room for argument.

“I’m surprised you don’t already know.” Kylo blushed more fully and looked down, trailing his spoon in the soup.

“Of course I know,” Snoke snapped, such a sudden ferocity that made both Hux and Kylo flinch slightly. Kylo most likely because he didn’t like to disappoint his teacher, but Hux for an entirely different reason. Hux _knew_ that anger, he just still couldn’t place it anywhere. “I just want to hear your perspectives of the story.”

“I was the unfortunate target of Captain Ren’s latest raid, I’m afraid.” Hux spoke up after a moment or two of tension. Snoke visibly relaxed, his grip on his spoon much looser that a minute prior.

“Ah yes, The _Finalizer_ if I’m not mistaken?” Snoke asked, moving on to a decadent plate of steamed vegetables. Hux and Kylo followed suit, casting the soup aside.

“You’re correct. She was a fine ship.” Hux reminisced, thinking back to the glory of what would have been the Navy’s flagship. 

“Obviously not enough to withstand a storm.” Snoke chuckled, causing Hux to bristle slightly.

“We could have managed the storm just fine if Ren hadn’t blown us to bits.” Hux teased, making it clear he was saying the accusation in good fun. Kylo dared to look up, giving Hux one of those bashful smiles.

“The crew and I had to test the _Silencer’s_ capability.” Kylo teased back. Hux knew he was sorry, he had moved on. Snoke wasn’t prepared to let the issue go, it seemed.

“Really Ren you should have appreciated the beauty of a brand new ship more than anyone.” Snoke sneered, eyes cold and calculating. Where had Hux seen those eyes? They were pulled slightly closed by the scarring on his face, but Hux knew them. He knew he knew them. He was going to go mad.

“I’m sorry – ” Kylo started, mouth twisting down, but Snoke sent him a glare that would have killed weaker men.

“Silence.” He barked. Hux was beginning to lose his temper, unable to sit by and listen to Snoke berate Kylo like he were some bumbling child for much longer. “Let Mr. Hux continue.” Snoke continued.

“It’s rather undignified, but I clung to his ship as mine went down. They hoisted me up the next morning and I’ve been aboard ever since.” Hux admitted through relatively clenched teeth, smiling at Kylo in assurance that at least one member of this party was not angry with him. Kylo didn’t meet Hux’s gaze.

“I’m rather surprised that Ren showed mercy. He usually does not.” Snoke sounded surprised, and Hux couldn’t blame him. He had not been expecting the events to unfold the way they had, but that wasn’t to say he wasn’t glad of it. Kylo’s chin dipped further towards his chest at the scolding.

“It is a kindness I did not take advantage of, I assure you.” Hux said, not wanting to think he had let Kylo coerce him into anything.

“No, I’m sure you did not, Mr. Hux.” Snoke mused. Kylo opened his mouth to speak, but Snoke banged a fist on the table, rattling all of the china plates and bowls, even hard enough as to knock over the decanter of wine. “I swear Ren, the next words out of your mouth better be extraordinary to defy my order.”

“He’s an Admiral.” Kylo blurted, making Hux’s eyes snap to Kylo’s still tucked down head. His face was obscured by the length of his hair, it was as if he were trying to hide himself away.

Hux’s mind raced, what had possessed Kylo to say such a thing? Something so damning? He knew that Hux needed to keep a low profile, that if word got out he was a member of the police of the sea he would be kidnapped and held for ransom in a heartbeat. Or slaughtered to prevent giving away this pirate hideaway. Or any number of things really. None of them good. Hux was shocked.

“Beg pardon?” Snoke asked, his tone that light mocking sort of thing, almost a warning.

“He’s the bastard son of Brendol Hux.” Kylo forced out, hands gripping the silverware. Hux continued to do nothing but stare, feeling his heart breaking. What did Kylo think he was _doing?_

There was a long silence then, one that seemed to stretch on forever. Forgetting the sting of that horrible word, forgetting their unspoken agreement to shield his true identity, forgetting all of that, Hux was so completely caught off guard by how fast Kylo threw him under the bus. How quickly he cast him aside, simply to get back into Snoke’s good graces, all to show that he was better conversation company than Hux. In doing so, he had damned Hux, and something splintered in Hux’s gut horribly.

How long ago had Kylo uttered those words like a prayer, _partner in all things,_ a promise for forever? An hour? Maybe even less? Was this Kylo’s true nature, or had this been a plan all along? Hux’s heart was broken, fixating on that loop in his mind – _bastard._ Brendol Hux’s bastard son. Is that truly how Kylo saw him?

The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife, and Hux felt like he was in a trance when he heard Snoke clear his throat.

“Yes, I’m aware.” Was all Snoke said. He took a sip of his wine and Hux finally found his voice.

“I’m not any longer, I can assure you.” He nearly croaked, palms sweating so profusely they left prints on his trousers. Snoke just gave a light chuckle, but it was strained.

“The possibility of you turning myself or any of these other scoundrels in is slim, I am sure.” Snoke continued to laugh.

“Quite.” Was all Hux could manage. Kylo was deathly silent. Hux didn’t look at him.

“How is your father these days?” Snoke asked, moving on to the lobster, signaling that they were to as well.

“If I may speak freely, I’m not sure and I don’t particularly care to know.” Hux replied, forcing a light smile. It wouldn’t do to let his internal fury and betrayal show.

“And Admiral Tarkin?” Snoke asked, followed by a forkful of the lobster. He chewed carefully, purposefully, and it made Hux’s skin itch, as did the topic of his former friend and mentor.

“May I ask how the two of you are acquainted?” Hux asked, throat tight. He was one step closer to figuring out where he knew Snoke from, and it was a horrible inkling that was trickling down his spine at the realization that he knew _exactly_ who Snoke was.

“Ol’ Wilhuff and I were great friends, I was his quartermaster for the entire duration of his career before he retired.” Snoke said easily, confirming Hux’s suspicion.

He hadn’t realized it, but Hux had inhaled the piece of lobster and it apparently had flung itself down the wrong pipe. He immediately began coughing and choking, standing abruptly and scraping his chair against the plush rug. 

“Are you alright there Mr. Hux?” Snoke asked, entirely unconcerned. He went so far as to raise an eyebrow at the inconvenience of a dinner interruption, but that was all.

Kylo stood as well, whacking Hux on the back but Hux yanked himself away from Kylo’s touch.

“Yes, I am. If I could just please be excused for a moment.” Hux’s throat was raw, but not from coughing. He sounded on the verge of tears, and if that’s how his voice came out, he could only imagine the splotches that had most likely taken residence on his face.

“Of course, we shall wait for you.” Snoke looked pleased, conspiratorial. Like everything was going to plan. Hux felt like he was going to be ill, having enough presence of mind to push his chair in as he rushed to the door.

“No, no please. Continue. I’ll just be a moment.” Hux waved them off, not daring to look anywhere near the vicinity of Kylo. He could feel the eyes burning into his back, through his brand new coat, but he refused to turn.

Hux nearly stumbled out of the room, leaving behind a defeated Kylo and a completely unruffled Snoke. That was it, _that_ was how he knew this man. Hux ran to the railing, and with tightly shut eyes, threw up all the expensive lobster he had been politely forcing down despite its overt buttery sweetness.

He didn’t know what was happening to him, his palms were shaking so fiercely they itched, the very muscles underneath his jittering. He slid down the wall until he unceremoniously hit the floor, flashes of repressed childhood memories blurring his vision.

Snoke was indeed the quartermaster, and Hux still had the lashes from how cruel he had been to Hux to show for it. One particular evening – the last evening that Hux ever sailed on Tarkin’s ship – had been entirely cruel and unusual, and Hux fought down bile trying to will the thoughts away. He was unsuccessful, and had to squeeze his eyes shut, breathing in deep gulps of salty air.

It had been a busy night on the ship, Hux no more than eighteen and old enough to be a proper officer. He was on the cusp of promotion, and so he took on the hardest jobs that none of the other sailors wanted in an attempt to impress Tarkin. They had been short a deckhand, so Hux found himself above deck for the first time in a week, and it was a welcome feeling.

He can still remember the slickness of the rainwater that he had to sweep away, lest it fell through the planks and rot the wood. They had sailed from London to African coasts and had filled their ships with human beings, the first time Hux had ever seen slaves in person. His father was an advocate for the slave trade, one of the only ones left, Hux assumed, and as such he had endured conversations about the slave trade at dinner parties, read about it from countless articles, even gotten into his own heated debates about it – against it of course – with members of the crew, but this was different.

This was seeing the anguish of a people he had no quarrels with, no qualms against. These were families forcibly ripped from their homes, to be cast away to the colonies for labor no one else dared to do. The sobbing children and air of fear would never leave Hux’s memory, the sounds of mothers hushing their infants’ cries seared into his brain.

But worse than all that, was Snoke’s treatment of them. He hadn’t been called Snoke back then, he was referred to as simply the Quartermaster, and he carried a crop and a whip with him at all times. Shouting red faced at frightened people, he would shove them into lines, push and kick them down below deck where they would all sleep, some three or four hundred of them. It made Hux sick, the treatment of these people – the fact that they were transporting slaves _at all,_ that Tarkin would allow such a thing, was despicable.

Hux decided very quickly that he would not be a part of this, and he made his intentions clear when he ran below deck and went to the crew.

“Who will join me?” He had said, voice low and hushed. “Who will help me free these men, women, children?”

“What would the Admiral say?” One of his close friends, an officer named Brooks had asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Brooks had to have been in his twenties, but he was so large that he could easily subdue the Quartermaster long enough for Hux’s numble fingers to steal away the keys.

“What does it matter? What does your conscious say?” Hux argued, brow pinched.

“You are young and full of spirit, but you’ll be hanged for treason by morning if you go against orders.” One of the oldest crew members, Spits sighed. Spits had to have been in his sixties, and many of the crew thought it unfair to keep him aboard, but Spits had liked the work; he said it kept him busy.

“It’ll be mutiny.” Brooks agreed, getting up and leaving, ending the conversation entirely.

“Fine, then I’ll do it alone – ” Hux pushed the small table away in anger, small chair scraping against the wood.

“Do _what_ , alone?”

Standing in the doorway was the Quartermaster, was _Snoke_. Hux didn’t have a moment to explain before he was grabbed by his collar and dragged up to eyelevel. The Quartermaster had looked into his eyes, such an ice blue that they bordered on white.

The Quartermaster yanked him along, bringing him above deck. No matter how hard Hux tried to get out of his grip, he was simply too strong for Hux to flee. With a spare piece of rope, the Quartermaster tied Hux’s hands behind his back and kicked him down, making Hux land hard on his knees.

The Quartermaster didn’t say another word, the whip coming down in one swift _crack._ Again and again he beat Hux, stripes of blood seeped through his thin white shirt, painting the freshly scrubbed deck, scrubbed by his own calloused hands. He did not speak as he kicked and whipped Hux, and Hux did not scream. It was a game, a contest, to see who would give out first and let the punishment be known by the rest of the ship. Hux could not face Tarkin knowing he had contemplated mutiny, he couldn’t bear to hear of his father’s rage. The Quartermaster could not be seen beating such an important child, loathe to admit that he was still a child, and so he hid the act with careful timings of the storm.

The phrase _crack of thunder_ never settling right with him again.

Hux lasted seventy-three lashes before his body gave out, blacking out entirely. He only remembered waking up on the Gold Coast the next morning, slap-dashedly bandaged up and left for another ship to fetch him. He told no one, never once giving any reason for complaint. He slipped into a medical ward and was stitched up as best as the poor nurse could manage, and he found himself a new ship, taking a much lower position than previous as to lay low.

He made sure he never took his shirt off during the hard labor, the evidence of his treason as plain as the freckles on his face. He took the worst tasks, the hardest maneuvers. He crawled into as many tight spaces as he could, was put in the forefront of battles, he did whatever he could to keep his head down and stay out of trouble.

And he had. He rose the ranks, captained his own ships, and did the Navy proud. As loathe as he was to admit it, he did his father proud. They were on their way to banning slavery, but Hux knew the ink wouldn’t dry in his lifetime, but he only hired abolitionist crew, not allowing those who wished for the trade to continue to board. He had eventually learned that Tarkin had not approved of becoming a slaving vessel, he hadn’t even known about it. It was only after they had docked and the Quartermaster began letting actual human beings out of their confines did he become aware. Tarkin fired the Quartermaster, and that had been the last that Hux heard, before Tarkin’s retirement.

However, it seemed that the Quartermaster had made a life for himself outside of the Navy, Hux thought as he clutched his chest and tried to regulate his breathing. He wondered how many more families were destroyed at his prospects for riches? How many people already were living in the Americas having being transported under his colors?

A pair of large hands pulled him up, and he was crushed to a broad chest. Hux leaned into the warmth for a moment before realizing that it was Kylo, and used whatever was left of his strength to wrench himself away.

“I’m sorry – ” Kylo immediately began, voice trembling. Hux took a step back, hips hitting the railing. Kylo followed him, caging him in.

“I don’t want to hear it.” Hux cut him off, refusing to look him in the eye.

“Hux, please – ” Kylo tried again but Hux was having none of it.

“No!  How dare you come to me now, when you were so quick to sacrifice my good image?” He seethed, gaze fixed on the stars that began peeking through the clouds. It looked like it was going to rain tonight, and Hux hoped it didn’t. He had seen a ship at the port that he wanted to be on, and if it rained, they might delay.

“I – ”

“No – just – don’t answer that! There is nothing you could say that would make this better.” Hux sighed, fighting down tears. He had already cried once in front of this man, he would not do so again. Kylo wasn’t nearly as proud, Hux knew that the minute he allowed Kylo to get a full sentence out the man would be gushing.

“But – ”

“Kylo, do you have any idea who that man is?” Hux asked, suddenly quiet. Maybe Kylo didn’t know, maybe there was a chance he had been kept in the dark, like Tarkin had been, like so many others had been.

“Of course I do, he practically raised me.” Kylo immediately became defensive, taking a step back. That was the wrong answer.

“So you condone slavery then?” Hux practically seethed, still refusing to look at him. He had shut his eyes, patterns dancing behind his eyelids the only thing he dared to see.

“Wait, slavery? What do you mean slavery?” Kylo stilled, voice cracking on the last word. Hux opened his eyes, staring at the ground.

“I mean the enslavement of human beings, Kylo. Because that’s how your precious mentor got rich enough to afford the finery he so enjoys.” He set his jaw, fists balling at his sides.

“No! You’re wrong, you’re – ” Kylo shook his head, taking another step back.

It was just enough room for Hux to furiously shed his clothing, brand new fabrics hitting the deck. Layer by layer he tore through, restrained only enough to avoid any buttons from flying. He steeled himself and turned, putting his back on display, chest heaving.

“I’m wrong? I don’t care how you got that scar, but do you want to know how I got mine? Your precious mentor beat me half to death because he didn’t like that I was going to free his slaves.” Hux panted, white knuckle grip on the rail.

“That… that can’t be.” Kylo whispered in horror, hiccuping on a wet noise that sounded like the beginning of a sob. Hux turned back around, and grabbed his clothing from the floor, hastily doing all the fastenings again.

“Oh it can, and it is. Tell me, when you first met him, did he have his burns yet?” Hux asked, voice strangely calm.

“No.” Kylo replied, frown deep. His eyes were shining, his fists were shaking.

“Did he have a big brown beard and mustache? Did he lose those a battle in 1697?” Hux let his upper lip curl, baring all his teeth. He absurdly wished his own were gold, or even black, purely to be more intimidating. He hoped his razor sharp incisors did the trick.

“How do you…?” Kylo’s eyes widened, jostling the tears that had pooled there to drop down his cheeks.

“Because I’m the one that singed them off.” Hux stepped forward, hissing. Kylo scrambled backwards, wanting to get out of Hux’s way. “He was aboard one of the ships I sunk when I earned the name Starkiller, when I destroyed their fleet. I’m the one who melted your precious teacher’s face.” Hux stalked forward, feral and too far gone to care.  

“I don’t know you at all.” Kylo whispered, making Hux nearly lose his patience.

“And I know even less of you!” He snapped. “You said I’ve held your attention for years. How many years? How long have you been waiting to trap me onto your ship?” He demanded, barking the order. He hated how much like his father he sounded.

“It’s not like that – ” Kylo began, but Hux cut him off with the same wave of his hand Brendol often employed, and loathed himself for it.

“Was this a plan you two had together? Sink my bloody ship and hope I drown with it?” He sneered, stalking towards the very ramp that they had held hands what seemed like eons ago.

“If you must know, _yes._ Yes that was the plan. But you never do what you’re expected, don’t you? You just had to go and defy all the odds and _live,_ didn’t you?” Kylo shouted, apparently that had been the end of his leash as well. He was red in the face, the vein in his neck bulging under his tanned skin.

“Believe me I have wished for death many a moment but not once nearly as much as now.” Hux said, putting as much fury into it as possible.

“If you’d only let me apologize!” Kylo yelled, throwing his arms into the air like a child.

Hux decided he had nothing else to lose, and stepped off the ramp, boots clicking on the cobblestone road beneath. He did not turn to face Kylo, he simply stared at the soft candlelight glow of Phasma’s shop, arms crossed against his chest.

“You have two minutes to explain why you said what you did. I don’t want groveling, I don’t want apologies. I want an explanation. Two minutes.” He said against his better judgement.

Kylo’s words came in a rush, so quickly Hux wished they were written down, so he could go back and pick up on the things he missed. His mind was too much in a frenzy, making plans, calculating distances, counting his coins. Kylo dissolved into sobs, horrible ugly sobs completely unbecoming of a man, let alone a captain.

“Ever since I was a child he’s always been there. On the ship, at the ports. He was a ghost, he is a ghost. He haunts me everywhere I go! He told me all the things my parents were too scared to say, he confided in me and I trusted him. So I did what he said, and he grew proud of me. His doubts were harsher than any lies my foolish parents told, his disappointment was devastating. Cruel words and a sharp tongue were worse than the days locked in isolation, worse than the punishments and beatings. I wanted nothing more than to never disappoint him again.

“All I’ve ever been was a disappointment, to my family, to my friends, to my crew. I was a disappointment to my father, so I killed him. I was a disappointment to my crew so I rigged the ship to explode. I was a disappointment to my mother, so I ran away and have been chasing her ever since. I was disappointing him tonight. He found you more interesting than me, he knew you, he had a vendetta against you. Nothing I could have said would be new information to him, but I thought, I just thought, if he knew that I had figured it out all on my own, he would be proud.”

“And now you’ve disappointed me.” Hux replied dryly. Kylo kept crying, loud wet wails in the night that drew no more attention than a brawl would have.

“Of all my mistakes, this one will be the end of me, I am sure.” He cried, burying his face into his hands.

Hux’s brain finally focused in on the most important bit of information, one that blew Kylo’s earlier betrayal so far out into the sea that he nearly forgot that he was angry about it. Hux turned to face Kylo, and for the first time looked him in the eye.

“You lied to me.” He said simply, absolutely positively livid.

“What?” Kylo asked, dumbstruck.

“You _lied to me!_ ” Hux nearly screamed, face shaking so hard his jaw clicked against itself. Hux grabbed Kylo’s arm and threw him against the nearest surface, which happened to be a very tall palm tree that swayed when the force of Hux’s shove hit the trunk.

“I don’t – ” Kylo’s eyes searched frantically, trying to rewind his confession and find the words that destroyed him.

“You have Spanish blood in your veins! Royal Spanish blood no less!” Hux spit, and Kylo froze. That was all Hux needed to see. He let go of Kylo and turned away but Kylo grabbed at his wrist, pulling him back, starting to speak before Hux punched him square in the jaw. “Don’t you dare deny it, don’t you _dare_ deny Organa is your mother. Tell me, when we found her, were you really going to kill her?”

“I – ”

“Do you think she would welcome you with open arms? Do you honestly believe she would turn a blind eye to the murder of her husband, to the countless murders you’ve committed since?” He laughed, hysterical. He had lost his mind, he was going insane.

“No.” Kylo sobbed, collapsing to the floor. Hux turned his nose at the display, instead straightening his coat.

“Please give my regards to Captain Snoke.” Hux said as coldly as he could, not quite succeeding.

“We aren’t finished here.” Kylo reached for him, one hand holding his smarting mouth.

“Like hell we are. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll never speak to me again. You’ll never look at me, think of me, talk of me, or dream of me. You may have games to play, but I’ve got a war to run, I’ve got a ship to sink.” Hux turned again, walking away. “And I’m not sorry that your mother is the one who has to go down with it.”

“Armitage, please – ” Kylo had gotten up and had wrapped his long arms around Hux’s waist. Hux pulled the pistol from its holster and pressed the barrel against the soft underside of Kylo’s jaw.

“I loved you. I loved you, and I was going to spend the rest of my life with you, you know. But if you ever say that name again, I will shoot you.” Hux’s voice cracked. “Goodbye, Captain Ren.”

Hux tore himself away from Kylo, and only when he was sure Kylo did not follow, did he tuck himself into a corner and break down into tears.

 

Standing on the deck of what had formerly been Captain Maul's ship, Hux put all his energy into captaining this new vessel. He did not cry, he did not shake, he did not look back. When they had finally cast away from the port, he stood at the bow and closed his eyes. A voice haunted him, singing a song that broke his heart,

_Let my death slumbers be where a mother's prayer,_   
_And a sister's tear shall be mingled there,_   
_It will be sweet ere the heart's gentle throb is o'er_   
_To know when its fountain shall gush no more,_

  
_That those it so fondly hath yearned for will come,_   
_To plant the first wild flower of spring on my tomb,_   
_Let me lie where those loved ones will weep over me,_   
_O bury me not in the deep deep sea._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, despite me flipping things completely on its head. Please feel free to yell at me in the comments, but before you do that, why not read some pirate facts? ;) 
> 
> -The term Rococo is used to identify a period of time in the 18th century of lavish opulence, specifically in France. It developed Paris as a reaction against the art style known as Baroque; which was identified by its symmetry and strict regulations. The Rococo style was ornate and used light pastels, asymmetrical designs, curves, and gold. So much gold. You can see why Snoke loves it huh?  
> -Dining etiquette was an extremely social matter, and it was very complex with many rules. After redressing for dinner (part of the reason Kylo had Hux see Phasma early) guests would proceed into the dining room. In one course, soup or creams, main dishes, side dishes and pastries would be placed on the table all at once, often resulting in food going cold before one could get to it. I truly could go on about this forever, so please feel free to comment below or send me a message if you'd like to talk more about it!  
> -The Quartermaster of a ship was the most powerful and important crew member aside from the captain. He was in charge of carrying out captain's orders, and handling management of daily activity on the ship. In the realm of pirates, the quartermaster divided up whatever treasures they had plundered among the crew according to the number of shares each man was due to receive. More important to this story though, is that the Quartermaster was in charge of discipline. Quartermasters often inflicted punishments such as floggings, but whippings were not unheard of, especially in particularly creul men.  
> -The Trans-Atlantic slave trade was of course on every and all level, horrific. Britain participated in it from 1619 to 1843. The Dutch participated in it from 1612 until 1863 when slavery was abolished there as well. I can't speak to the horrors of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, as it is not my history, nor my area of study, and I would not want to speak on something that I have no grounds to speak from.   
> -Contrary to what many people like to think, pirates were actually quite organized. A new captain had to be elected by all the men in the crew, and could be replaced if a vote of majority by the crew came into play. Captains were expected to be skilled and dependable seamen, as well as strong leaders since they made all the decisions; including how to engage a target, how to pursue prey, how to escape the authorities and how to deal with an attack. Seeing as Maul was dead, Hux presented himself as not only their best bet, but their only option, and so he was voted in as their new captain. You can bet his first order was to scrub the deck, lol. 
> 
> Again, I'm sorry for how long this took, hurricane preparations have been causing a bit of a mass panic here. If you'd like to talk with me about this fic, pirates, kylux, or anything else, please feel free to find me on tumblr, @cowboykylux ! Stay safe everyone, i'll see you in the next update :) x


	6. Drowned Cries of Sunken Ships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fight between two adversaries never ends the way it seems, and lovers are reunited under less than ideal circumstances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's been a month. Not exactly, but damn close, and I'd like to apologize so so so much for that. Between the hurricane and then the immediate beginning of school, I haven't have much time to write. But! I hope the size (and events) of this chapter make up for my absence. Please enjoy the penultimate chapter of this wonderful fic, and thank you all so much for being so wonderfully kind and patient with me!!

Kylo couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. There was nothing but the sound of buzzing in his ears, loud, all-consuming buzzing, like a million gnats swarming inside his big head. He was seeing spots, chest tightening in a way that was painful; he wondered if one could truly die from a broken heart. It was fear, Kylo knew it was fear, but he hadn’t been truly afraid of anything in a long time, not since the death of his father by his own hands. He had never had anything worth being afraid to lose, and now that he had, watching Hux walk away hurt more than any wound he had survived; when Hux walked away, he took Kylo’s soul with him.

He grit his teeth and pushed himself away from the tree he had leaned on, hand rubbing over tear-slippery skin at the spot where the cold metal of Hux’s pistol dug into the flesh. Hux’s sharp eyes had held a fear of their own, and something snapped inside Kylo at the realization that he was the one who put it there. He had been so quick to ruin Hux, when that was the last thing on this Earth he had wanted. He was everything Hux thought of him, right from the beginning – a dirty, horrible, pirate.

Steadying his breath with as much strength as he could muster, he stumbled across to _Gwendoline’s_ , eternally grateful for Phasma’s absurd working hours. The smile she greeted him with immediately fell once she saw the state of him, and she crossed her arms with narrow eyes.

“What the hell did you do?” She asked, tone just strict enough to start the waterworks again. His throat ached with his wails, and Phasma’s eyebrows shot up in surprise at the sight of a monstrous captain such as he, bent over at the waist and leaning on glass cases for support. His arms trembled, and with it, so did the case, giving alarming groans and creaks like it was going to shatter under the weight.

“Phasma I fucked up! I screwed up so bad, and Hux is gone, and I’m never going to get him back, and oh, Phasma please just kill me, I can’t bear this pain – ” He sobbed, tears and snot and salt mixing in one gross puddle on the case. Phasma cut him off by thrusting a handkerchief in his direction, and he used it to clean up his face.

“Speak slowly, I can’t understand you. What do you mean Hux is gone?” She interrupted, not unkindly. He knew she was being careful with him, like he may shatter with the glass, but was too frantic to care. He pushed his hair out of his face, fingers digging just too hard into his scalp, yanking it back just shy of painful.

“He knows Snoke! Knew Snoke, or Snoke knew him? I’m not sure.” He babbled, trying to speak around his hiccups. “I said some bad shit, you know how I can’t stop myself sometimes, but Snoke was just so angry with me and then Hux was even angrier – ”

“I need you to back up. What exactly did you say?” Phasma placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, and Kylo slumped in misery, hanging his head in shame.

“Snoke kept getting angry with me for trying to speak, but I had something really important to say about Organa’s ship being nearby, and he yelled at me saying that the next words out of my mouth better be extraordinary, so I panicked, and revealed Hux’s identity.” He rushed the words out, hating himself for every syllable. He didn’t need to look up to see Phasma’s frown, her stiffened body language was everything Kylo needed to tell.

“To what extent?” She asked, sounding very scandalized. Kylo sighed, a watery sound that was more broken than Kylo cared to admit. He felt broken, every part of him, right to his core, from what he did to Hux.

“I said he was an Admiral of the Royal Navy, and that he’s the bastard son of Brendol Hux.” He admitted, tucking his chin as far down into his chest as he could.

“Oh, Kylo.” Phasma frowned, giving a sigh of her own. “You could have gotten him killed.” She said in a low tone, even though no one else was around to hear them. Kylo pinched his eyes shut, willing the stars to flee his eyelids to no avail.

“I’m afraid I did worse than that. Snoke knew Hux, knew him from a past life aboard a slaving ship.” Kylo finally looked up at Phasma, and fury crossed her face.

“Snoke deals in _human_ _trafficking_?” She hissed, any shred of respect for the man she may have once held vanishing. Kylo found himself in rather a similar position, although he could never say that out loud.

“I don’t know if he does anymore!” Kylo quickly said, not wanting her to think he condoned it, because he didn’t, oh god he didn’t. “Snoke did, for many years, and Hux was almost killed for treason when he tried to stop it, and I didn’t know, I didn’t know, Phasma!” His sobs came back full throttle again, and he slid down to the floor in one pitiful lump.

Phasma sat down next to him, and pulled him into her arms, tucking his head under her chin as he rode out the next wave of harsh crying. It was unnerving to be this vulnerable in front of Phasma, she was a woman who would skin you alive and then sell it as quality leather, but Kylo knew she wouldn’t throw him, not the way he threw Hux. He cried harder.

“I know you didn’t, but that’s not the problem here. The problem is Hux feels betrayed.” Phasma rocked him like he was a small child afraid of the dark, and maybe he was. Hux’s presence had become the only true joy in his life, and now that that was gone, so was his beacon.

“He has even more reason to be, I was supposed to have killed him that day we sunk the Finalizer. Snoke was right, there _weren’t_ supposed to be any survivors.” Kylo said, pulling his face away from Phasma’s shoulder. He knew his hair was plastered to his face and he must have looked ridiculous, but to her credit she just untangled a few curls and brushed them aside.

“Does he know this bit of information?” She asked.

“I may or may not have shouted it at him.” Kylo sighed again, prompting Phasma to laugh just a little.

“You fucked this up royally.” She tugged playfully on a stray curl. Then after a moment of realizing her own pun, she gaped down at him. “Oh god, does he know about _that_ too?”

“Yes!” Kylo threw an arm up in exasperation. “He knows everything! I told him everything.”

“Kylo you have to fix this.” She pointed out the absolute obvious, and Kylo wanted to cry again. He supposed he was finally out of tears, instead of wetness there just a dry painful heaving behind his brow.

“I _know_! But he said he’ll kill me if I ever come near him again, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do to make this right.” Kylo chewed on his lip, getting anxious. Every moment he spent blubbering on the floor was distance Hux put between them. He would have been a fool not to seize Maul’s ship, and set sail immediately. But there was nothing he could _do_ at the present, Snoke was still waiting back in his ship to finish dinner, and then most likely beat Kylo senseless.

“Wouldn’t be the first time you’ve been shot at.” Phasma quirked a small smile, and Kylo found that oddly calming. Phasma poking fun at his expense was familiar, was something he could work with.

“He’s already on his ship, there’s no way I’ll be able to catch him.” He lamented, ignoring the way Phasma rolled her eyes.

“Kylo, it’s been an hour at most. Isn’t the _Silencer_ freshly careened? I bet you that piece of shit Maul hasn’t once scraped the bottom of his boat. You can catch up.” She reasoned, and damnit, she was right.

“I can’t just approach him with nothing to show for myself.” Kylo shook his head, and Phasma hummed in agreement.

Normal gifts wouldn’t cut it, not for this level of absolute disastrous screw-up. He needed to give Hux something serious, something that proved his loyalty. Some innate part of him knew that Hux was his North Star, his compass, his destiny. He knew he would follow Hux anywhere, to the very edge of the Earth if Hux so wished it. He would shower Hux in gold coins, in diamonds and in pearls. He would decorate his hair and ears with rubies so red, roses would wilt in shame. He wanted to serve the heads of Hux’s enemies on silver platters, wanted to offer their ribs for Hux’s picking.

“How long have we known each other?” Phasma asked after a while, drawing Kylo out of his thoughts.

“Ten years?” He replied, dazed. He knew what he needed to do, he knew how he could prove his loyalty. He just needed to not screw this up, not like he had with everything else. 

“And when have I ever steered you wrong?” She asked again, words slow, like she was afraid of Kylo’s reaction.

“Only that time in – ”

“Barring that time in Barbados, when have I steered you wrong?” She cut him off, face hardening.

“Never.” Kylo replied resolutely. He had an inkling of what Phasma was about to say, and he couldn’t stop the manic grin from spreading to his cheeks, especially not when Phasma smiled back like a hungry shark. He wished she would join his crew, this woman was ruthless.

“Exactly. Now I need you to listen to me very carefully.” She leaned in close, looking around conspiratorially. “I think it’s time for a new Pirate King, don’t you?"

 

* * *

 

_Sadist._

_Callous._

_Murderer._

Hux heard all the names he was called and he reveled in it. _Good_ , he thought _, let them know. Let them all know how out for blood I am._

He had seized Mauls’ ship already with the reputation of being the Starkiller, the man who slayed their captain, and he could feel the tension as he stalked up and down the quarterdeck. It was thick enough to slice with a cutlass, but there was work to be done, there was distance to make up, and there were overly large captains to forget. Hux held his chin high, refusing to let the tears fall, as he shouted out at his new men.

“You there! If you’ve got nothing better to do than stand about like a dull post, you might as well make yourself useful down in the bilges!” Chin high and his shoulders back, face pinched from refraining to sneer. A pirate who had been lounging against the rail scrambled to attention, not wanting to befall the same fate as Maul.

“Re-rope the rigs, that topsail is too loose.” Hux pointed to the sail that was sagging slightly, not quite catching the wind correctly. They needed to be fast, and even a ship as small as this one was going to need all the assistance it could acquire, if they were to hunt down the bane of Hux’s existence – if they were going to rule the seas.

Hux tried very hard not to think about all his dreams of owning the oceans with a different crew at his side. He tried not to let his mind drift back to a man he thought he knew, a man who held him closely and promised things in the night. He failed.

“All powder monkeys to the cannons, load the girls up!” He called up to the children who were playing in the crows nest, who unlike the fully grown adults who wanted to do nothing than drink and complain, were eager to obey the orders of the Starkiller. It was a small fame, but it made him feel slightly better. That was, until he slipped on some sticky black tar that he didn’t even want to _know_ where it came from.

“For the love of God will someone get a team to _scrub this deck?_ ” Hux shouted, going red in the face before storming off to go scrape the nonsense off of his boots.

Face shaking ever so slightly, he hid behind a pile of crates that had been sloppily stacked in an effort to conserve time for their immediate departure. He let himself go just a little limp as he leaned against the railing for support. All he wanted to do was shut himself away in his cabin and cry for a few hours before the gentle rocking knocked him out, but he needed to make up time. There would be no sleep for him, he decided, when he heard a pair of voices approach his hiding spot.

“He’s a righ’ fuckin’ nutter is wha’ ‘e is.” One of them huffed, clearly agitated in the change of leadership.

“Ye best shut yer mouth, he’s tha Captain now.” The other reminded him, and Hux could practically hear the pirate’s eyes – or did this one only have one eye? It was so hard to keep up with who had what appendages – rolling.

“I may ‘ave voted for ‘im, but that don’t mean I trust ‘im.” Hux heard him spit on the floor, and that was when he had officially had enough.

“Good then that I don’t need your trust, just your loyalty.” Hux said, cool as ice, as he emerged from around the corner of the crates like some dramatic actor on stage.

“Aye, Cap’n!” They both straightened immediately, at least having enough decency to be embarrassed at being caught.

“Since you like to defile this ship with your spit, perhaps _you’d_ best lead the team in cleaning the deck. Does that sound like a simple enough task for your reductive brain?” Hux asked, going only so far as to lift an eyebrow.

“A-aye, Cap’n.” The one with – Hux was pleased that he was correct – only one eye nodded frantically, all bravado lost once faced with the Starkiller himself. Something deep inside Hux enjoyed that fear, fed off of it.

“Then off with you.” He ordered, not bothering to address the pirate who had, in some small way, defended Hux.

The pair rushed off in the direction of some buckets and stones, and Hux sighed, looking around. There wasn’t much to be done in the way of preparing the ship for a ruse de guerre, they didn’t have the right colors, the right size or style of ship, and absolutely not enough time to acquire any of those things. Not to mention Hux only had only the gold that Kylo had slipped into his pocket earlier that morning, during a gentle moment that felt a hundred years away. It burned in his pocket, he would not spend a pinch of it if he could help it.

He resumed his inspection of the ship, constantly comparing it to the _Silencer_ , and the _Silencer_ to the _Finalizer_. Hix heart had shattered into a million pieces on the dining room floor of Snoke’s vessel, and no matter how he tried to glue them together, they just wouldn’t stick. The _Finalizer_ had been such a glorious thing, but the _Silencer_ was better. Somehow larger, somehow stronger, and now that it was cleaned it would probably be the most fearsome thing on the seven seas. He passed tattered ropes, and Hux couldn’t help but envision the _Silencer_ with all the polish of Hux’s ships, it truly would have been magnificent.

He swallowed hard, and put those thoughts behind him. When all this was done, he would return to the Navy with a skull in his hands, and they would take him back. They would. They had to.

Not wanting to walk anymore, Hux began to climb. Rigging had always been his favorite hobby, scaling the huge masts of the main sails and sitting atop the yards gave him a peace he so often craved. The sun had fully set a long while ago, and there were few torches lit onboard, so Hux had to be careful with his footing, lest he fall and strangle himself in the ropes. A thought about Kylo’s perfect night vision, despite his bad eye, wormed its way into Hux’s mind, and he squeezed his eyes shut hoping it would leave.

He climbed and climbed, and as usual, the crew below him whispered, pointed. They probably wished he _would_ fall, so they could go back to things as normally as they could with a slain captain. Hux didn’t care, he sat on the yard and held on tightly, looping a rope around his ankle so if they happened to cross a rough wave and he _did_ go flying, there would be something to tether him to the ship.

It was too dark to see anything but the glittering silver light of the moon reflected on the waters. They weren’t calm, not this far out, but they were gentle enough to ripple in beautiful patterns that Hux soon found himself mesmerized by. Soon, this view would be something he could look forward to at the end of every day. Soon, he would watch it from even taller heights, masts so large he could walk across the yard and pluck the moon itself right out of the sky. Down here on earth, in this poor excuse for even a pirate ship – now that he had known true luxury – Hux felt very small.

“O bury me not in the deep deep sea,” Hux started to sing, this the only song that came to mind when expressing the grief he felt so strongly for the life that could have been his, if only he hadn’t fallen into such a cleverly laid trap as he had, “The words came low and mournfully, from the palled lips of a youth who lay, on his cabin couch at the close of day.”

 _He had wasted and pined till o'er his brow,_  
_Death's shade had slowly passed, and now_  
_Where the land and his fond loved home were nigh_  
_They had gathered around him to see him die._

Hux laid his head back against the mast, staring out into the water. He felt he was allowed to be sad about the circumstance, now that he was far away enough from the crew to care about image.

 _O bury me not in the deep deep sea,_  
_Where the billowing shroud will swell o'er me,_  
_Where no light will break through the dark cold wave,_  
_And no sun beam rest upon my grave,_

  
_It matters not, I have often been told_  
_Where the body shall lie when the heart is cold,_  
_Yet grant, O grant this boon to me,_  
_O bury me not in the deep deep sea._

“Captain?” a small and painfully familiar voice called to him, cold hand startling Hux out of his song.

He blinked, and blinked again, because surely his eyes were playing tricks on him. Maybe he _had_ drowned _,_ or at the very least knocked his head. Mitaka was clinging to the nets on the mast, swaying due to his slight weight being carried by the wind.

“Admiral Hux, is that you?” Mitaka asked, and Hux couldn’t tell if the mirage were real any longer.

“I – yes. Yes it’s me. Are you real?” He felt stupid for asking, but after the day he has had, and in looking at the days that are to come, it just didn’t matter anymore. But this, this knowing, this mattered. So he asked. “Are you alive?”

“Hux! Oh Hux! Yes I’m alive, yes I’m real!” Mitaka practically threw himself onto the yard, scooting as close to Hux as he could muster. In the moonlight, Hux found he didn’t look much different; still young, still kind.

“What – How did you survive? You must tell me everything!” Hux found his words, and once he started them, he couldn’t stop. “How on Earth did you manage to get here? On this ship of all places! Do you know if anyone else survived?” Hux’s head was pounding from just how many directions his emotions were being pulled in, frankly, he didn’t think he could survive too much more of this.

“The lifeboats! When that pirate ship came in the storm, they didn’t strike the lifeboats. We stayed alive in the raft for seven days, drifting with the currents.” Mitaka refused to let go of Hux’s hands, clutching them in his own like Hux might vanish if he did. Hux understood the sentiment, and had no qualms with gripping them back.

“We? Who else made it?” He said quickly, hope rising in his chest that some of his crew may have actually survived, that he might not be so alone in this world. If Mitaka were on this ship, maybe the others were too. If he had made it this far, maybe the others were close behind.

“In the beginning, there were seven of us,” Mitaka’s manic grin slightly fell away, and Hux knew that of the names Mitaka was about to speak, not all of them had made it. “Digger, Spots, Thanisson, Gree, Lock, and then Rod and myself.”

“Who have we lost?” Hux asked around a tight throat, almost not wanting to know.

“Gree, Lock, and Digger. Gree and Lock got into a crazed fight and drowned one another after the heat had gotten to them for too long. Digger, well, he sacrificed himself for us.” There was a long pause after Mitaka’s mentioning of Digger.

“Sacrificed? You don’t mean…” Hux nearly choked, throat so dry that the salt air burned on the inhale.

There had been stories of shipwrecked mates, fables mostly, or the tales of myth, of sailors starving to death on their wooden boats. Of men driven insane from drinking seawater, eating raw fish, boiling under the sun. There were darker stories, sickening stories, of men drawing sticks when the fish ran out, of who the first to die would be, fresh meat the only thing on their minds. With the way Mitaka was looking down at his boots, Hux had a horrible feeling that it was the latter.

“I – I’m afraid I do sir.” Mitaka’s voice shook, so feeble and small that Hux’s heart broke. Hux crushed Mitaka to his chest, smothering the sobs that began to pour out with a soothing hand on the back of Mitaka’s head. “Please don’t think too terribly of me, it was that o-or death sir!” He cried, and Hux just gently rocked him.

“Shh, it’s quite alright. I am in no position to judge anyone’s actions.” Hux said, voice as soothing as possible. Mitaka was strong, and he brought himself under control, and for that Hux was grateful. There were tears of his own that he was refusing to let fall, and standing before not one but now two people who let the flood gates loose was rapidly threatening his composure.

“Please p-pardon my saying so, but do you m-mind if we maybe remove ourselves from the yards? I’ve not been up here in a long while, and I have a f-fear of heights.” Mitaka asked, face still pressed into the crook of Hux’s shoulder.

“Of course. Shall we relocate my quarters? I’d like to continue this conversation in a more private setting, there is so much I need to tell you that requires…delicacy.” Hux asked, wanting to catch up but feeling his heart break all over again over what transpired between him and who he had thought was his soul mate only hours before.

“Anything for you Captain. I can show you the way!” Mitaka grinned, glad that Hux wasn’t about to throw him overboard for cannibalism, or for speaking out of turn, or whatever else he may have thought Hux might do to him.

“Mitaka, you always have been, and always will be my first and favorite Lieutenant.” He made it a point to say, meeting Mitaka’s eyes with all the seriousness he could muster.

“It is an honor to hear you speak those words sir.” Mitaka gulped, and the two of them climbed down one after the other.

 

Hux’s cabin was not nearly as lush or lavish as back on Kylo’s – _no,_ Hux thought, on Captain Ren’s ship. He wouldn’t give that man the benefit of a first name basis, if he couldn’t call Hux _Armitage_ , then he wouldn’t utter the man’s first name. It wasn’t even his _real_ name! It was just another lie, like everything else had been. Hux’s heart hurt, his head hurt, and he dropped into an armchair that smelled like leather polish and wood stain.

“Hux, may I speak candidly?” Mitaka asked, settling in a chair next to him. It made Hux smile knowing that after everything, after all the time apart and the trauma Mitaka must have gone through, he still wanted to be close to Hux, the captain that failed him.

“Always.” He assured him.

“What the hell happened to you?” Mitaka asked, a slight laugh to his voice. Hux knew when Mitaka was nervous, and this wasn’t that sort of laugh, this was a genuine chuckle.

“What do you mean?” Hux asked, giving a little smile of his own.

“I just mean, you look like a…like a _pirate_.” Mitaka laughed some more, and Hux laughed with him, because it really was bizarre wasn’t it? The last time they had been together was under the Navy blues and a Union Jack.

“I could say the same for you.” Hux grinned, enjoying the way a smile stretched his face.

“I have seen you wear the same uniform the entire time I’ve known you. I suppose to see you with a hoop dangling from your ear and a fine coat instead of your military epaulettes is just outside the realm of possibility for you.” Mitaka pointed out, leaning over to swat a hand at Hux’s shoulder.

“So many things that I thought were outside the realm of possibility suddenly found their way to my life since the wreck.” Hux said, smile falling the more he thought of Captain Ren, of what they could have been.

“Oh?” Mitaka frowned, always one for reading the mood.

“I fell in love, Mitaka.” Hux buried his head in his hands. “Against all the better judgements in the world, against all the things I’ve been taught from my father, from the Academy, from society, I fell in love. And the great idiot fucking blew it.”

“You better start from the beginning.” Mitaka eventually said with a look on his face that was a cross between concern and mild fury – fury directed towards whoever had broken his Captain’s heart.

 

Hux started from the beginning as Mitaka had asked. Right from the first cannon that ripped its way through the hull of the Finalizer, the moment that he had fallen so hard for a man who wanted him dead, for a man who was running from death himself. A man with storms in his eyes, with wind in hair long and thick, a mouth full of gold and a heart full of lead.

Mitaka’s frown only deepened with the more Hux spoke, the reverent way Hux described each mole on Captain Ren’s face, the way the light warmed his skin and pulled a bronze tan up, the way his nose stuck out at the perfect angle to tell the time when he laid across his pillow and the sun cast its shadow. Hux couldn’t help it, couldn’t help but love the Captain, even after everything, and he hated himself more and more for it.

Leaving out the more explicit details, he told about the time they spent together in the evenings, sweat sticky on silken sheets that were fit for an Emperor. Of how freeing it had been for Hux to walk hand in hand with another man, how totally accepted the concept was. Hux didn’t ignore the way Mitaka’s eyebrows raised in surprise, just as shocked as Hux has been when Captain Ren first wrapped an arm around his waist and no one so much as batted an eye.

He sprang from his chair and pantomimed the duel in the tavern, parrying with a wooden broomstick as his cutlass, feeling seven years old again; when the world was large and he spent his days pretending to be a great swordsman. He described the way Captain Ren’s eyes gleamed with vicious fury at the thought of Hux having been injured in any way, and the asking of permission to slaughter Maul and his lot for even thinking about touching Hux.

He told Mitaka about the song, the song that _he_ taught him, the one that Hux sang in mourning of his crew, a broken heart of a different kind, for friends and a ship that he had invested his life into leading. He sang the song with a raspy throat, raw from crying he refused to let burst forward. He was an Admiral, a Captain, the Starkiller, and but when he sang, he sounded like nothing more than little Armitage who had whips crack along his spine.

 _O bury me not in the deep deep sea,_  
_The words came low and mournfully,_  
_From the palled lips of a youth who lay,_  
_On his cabin couch at the close of day,_  
_He had wasted and pined till o'er his brow,_  
_Death's shade had slowly passed, and now_  
_Where the land and his fond loved home were nigh_  
_They had gathered around him to see him die._

 _O bury me not in the deep deep sea,_  
_Where the billowing shroud will swell o'er me,_  
_Where no light will break through the dark cold wave,_  
_And no sun beam rest upon my grave,_  
_It matters not, I have often been told_  
_Where the body shall lie when the heart is cold,_  
_Yet grant, O grant this boon to me,_  
_O bury me not in the deep deep sea._

 _For in fancy I've listened to the well known words,_  
_The free wild winds and the songs of the birds,_  
_I have thought of home, of cot, and of bower,_  
_And of scenes that I loved in childhood's hour,_  
_I had even hoped to be laid when I died,_  
_In the churchyard there on the green hill side,_  
_By the homes of my father my grave should be,_  
_O bury me not in the deep deep sea._

 _Let my death slumbers be where a mother's prayer,_  
_And a sister's tear shall be mingled there,_  
_It will be sweet ere the heart's gentle throb is o'er_  
_To know when its fountain shall gush no more,_  
_That those it so fondly hath yearned for will come,_  
_To plant the first wild flower of spring on my tomb,_  
_Let me lie where those loved ones will weep over me,_  
_O bury me not in the deep deep sea._

 _And there is another whose tears would be shed_  
_For him who lay far in an ocean bed,_  
_In hours that it pains me to think of now,_  
_She hath twined those locks and hath kissed this brow._  
_In the hair she hath wreathed shall the sea serpent hiss_  
_And the brow she hath pressed shall the cold wave kiss!_  
_For the sake of that bright one that waiteth for me,_  
_O bury me not in the deep deep sea._

“That was beautiful.” Mitaka said once Hux had finished, the last note bouncing off the walls of the small cabin’s walls. Hux smiled tiredly and fell back into the armchair with a sigh, rubbing a hand over his pounding head.

“It’s not finished, I don’t think. It feels unfinished anyhow. I don’t know if I’ll ever learn the rest, but it’s all I’ve got.” He replied, the weight of the statement too heavy on his shoulders.

“Do you remember, when the pirates came and boarded our vessel?” Mitaka asked suddenly, perking up. Hux frowned in confusion but nodded. “I stole away into your cabin and secured the trunks of your valuables.”

“Why on earth would you have done that?” Hux asked, sitting upright as Mitaka rushed to the beautifully carved wardrobe and brought out a few stacks of books, and a golden compass. His _mother’s_ compass, one he hadn’t dared to think about for fear of its fate.

“I couldn’t let them get their horrid hands on it, your things.” Mitaka grinned, handing the bundle to Hux, watching him hold the books close to his chest in a vice-like grip. “And, if you had drowned and I somehow managed to survive, I wanted to keep a piece of you, to remember you by.”

“You are a very kind man, Mitaka.” Hux put the things down and stood up, wrapping his arms around Mitaka’s shoulders and hugging him like he had never hugged his Lieutenant before. If he was shaking, Mitaka didn’t point it out, but it was too much for Hux to process – not only had his friends survived, but so had the pieces of him he thought would be gone forever.

“And _you_ mean a great deal to a great many people. This Captain of yours, if he ever so much as steps foot near you again, we’ll kill him.” Mitaka said, deadly seriously. Hux couldn’t help but let a slightly hysterical laugh bubble out.

“Truth be told, if he showed up right now with nothing but an apology I’d take him back in a heartbeat.” He said, voice low.

“Really?” Mitaka asked incredulously.

Hux nodded slowly, walking over to a window that was just at sea level, so half the view was underwater. Hux found the light from the moon even more beautiful as it pierced through the waves, he wondered how far down it went before the blackness of depth swallowed it whole.

“He won’t though.” Hux said, staring down into the water from his spot near the glass.

“How do you know?” Mitaka walked over and put a hand on his shoulder, a small motion, but a comforting one nonetheless.

“Because why would anything good ever happen to me?” Hux said to his own reflection with a self-deprecating chuckle. “I’m a horrible man, I’ve killed people, committed high treason, sold my soul to the sea. He played me like a fiddle and I let him, my own stupidity brought me here, why would he seek such a miserable person?”

“Because from what it sounds like, he’s hopelessly in love with you, and scared shitless.” Mitaka answered, sounding fond where he had been murderous a moment ago.

“Maybe so, but it feels like I care more for him than he ever did for me, than he ever wanted to.” Hux couldn’t help but point out. He didn’t know if this were a common feeling, he didn’t know if he were the only one to lament in this way, but whether or not he appeared silly to Mitaka, he didn’t care. His heart had broken all the same.

“Let’s pretend he were to come find you, to beg your forgiveness. What would you do?” Mitaka asked, pulling Hux back over to his chair in case his exhaustion got the better of him and Hux’s legs gave out. It wouldn’t have been the first time Mitaka has seen it happen.

“I’d shoot at him first of course, because I’m a man of my word, and I would make him demonstrate just how loyal to me he is, but if he chose me – really _chose_ me – then I’d kiss him and fall into his arms and order him to never let me go.” He knew he sounded like the silly damsels in distress of the books he read, but it couldn’t be helped.

“You deserve the world Hux, if you think this man will give it to you, then I’ll only try to kill him a little bit.” Mitaka nudged him with his elbow, causing Hux to laugh with a little more life behind his eyes.

“I appreciate that.” Hux mused, smiling tiredly at his old friend. Looking at Mitaka for a moment, he suddenly remembered something that felt more pressing than absolutely anything else. “Tell me all about you and our Quartermaster! Rod was his name, wasn’t it?”

The change in Mitaka’s demeanor was quite humorous to witness, his face flamed faster than any candle Hux had ever lit, all the way right up to the tip of his ears. There was a smile there though, and while Mitaka was a humble man, and an easily embarrassed one, he also was one that did everything wholeheartedly – including, it would seem, falling in love.

“O-Oh, yes, well, that sort of just happened over time, you see.”  Mitaka blushed so hard he had to look down. “Sir, I’d like to formally apologize for what you witnessed that day, it was completely unprofes—”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Hux interrupted, “If I deserve the world, then you deserve all the stars in the galaxy. Find something that makes you happy and hold onto it dearly.”

They smiled at one another and Hux let his eyes close, just feeling the rocking of the ship down in his bones. Mitaka was quiet for a long while, letting Hux get the peace he sought. When Hux was really in danger of falling asleep though, he spoke up.

“Are we really going to kill Organa?” He asked, voice low.

“If it’s the last thing I do.” Hux replied, eyes still closed.

“Even knowing that she is the mother of the man you love?” He continued, dropping down to a whisper.

“Even then. I won’t let anything stand in my way again, not again.” Hux cracked an eye open, and his head throbbed with the pain, but he was serious. The past twenty-four hours may have been a nightmare, nothing but a turmoil of emotions, but this he was certain of.

“You must be tired, please rest. I’ll fetch you in the morning and take you to see the others.” Mitaka offered a hand to help Hux up, but he was politely refused. Watching Hux walk over to the bed – decidedly smaller and less comfortable than Captain Ren’s – he moved towards the door. “If I tell them tonight, then you’ll never get a wink of sleep.” Mitaka winked with a grin.

“Have a good night, Mitaka.” Hux said, already falling asleep before his head hit the pillow.

“Goodnight, Captain.” He heard Mitaka say, before quietly leaving the cabin and making sure the door was locked behind him.

 

Hux woke the next morning with a good feeling in his bones, soon, they would catch up to Organa, he just knew it. He reached for the compass Mitaka had saved for him all this time, and held it securely in his hands. It was quite possibly the most precious thing he owned, and having its familiar weight settled into the palm of his hand was more comforting than he dared to admit.

Hux didn’t think often about his mother, the thoughts too painful to want to bring to surface. She had been so kind, even after terrible things kept happening to her, even after her life had been ruined by one disaster or another. Always invariably and unfailingly kind.

He watched the little needle sway gently with the rock of the ship, pointing due North as it always had. The compass was very much like his mother in that way, always reliable. His heart ached, but he had started to become accustomed to the feeling, so he put the thoughts of his mother back into the storage box he kept in his mind, and climbed out of bed.

Pulling on the clothes from the previous day, Hux appraised himself in the mirror. He looked a little rumpled, but overall, Phasma hadn’t done him dirty at all. The fitted black silks of his shirt and the red of his cravat hugged his figure wonderfully, the thick linen trousers and coat were striking with their red embroidery. His leggings were a little dirty, but that couldn’t be helped, and his hat was fastened securely to his head, all that was left was the coat. He slid his arms through the water-proof sleeves and instantly felt his posture improve just by the impressiveness of his appearance. He wished he hadn’t left on such rushed terms, he wanted to go back and thank Phasma _again_.

Slipping the compass into his pocket, he unlocked the door to his cabin and let the morning light pour in. Almost immediately, a slight body collided with his, and he found an armful of his barrel man, Thanisson. The poor boy was dreadfully thin, and he thought he better get him fed before he wasted away to nothingness, as he wrapped his arms tightly around his friend.

“Do me eyes deceive me?” Thanisson asked, tears already soaking into Hux’s coat, “Is it really you?” He looked up at Hux through wet lashes. Hux grinned and nodded, getting the air knocked out of him as Thanisson tightened his grip.

“It’s really me, I promise.” Hux laughed, and Thanisson regarded him with wide eyes, he had never heard him laugh openly like that before.

“Dopheld! Did you know?” Thanisson asked Mitaka, who watched them with an amused sort of fondness.

“I did, but only for an hour or so before I let the Admiral get his rest.” Mitaka grinned, letting Thanisson tug him into what was now becoming the longest hug of Hux’s life.

“Do the others know?” Thanisson asked, his youth showing once again, making Hux painfully aware of the fate he had suffered on the life boat with six other men.

“No, it’s just you two so far. When Spots and Rod wake up, I’d like to see them, to thank them.” Hux answered for Mitaka, stepping back to extract himself from the crushing grip of a desperate man’s arms. Thanisson looked down at his feet and wrung his bony hands in nervousness.

“S-Sir, I don’t know if Dopheld has told you, but – ” He started, voice shaking.

“Don’t worry my boy, I know everything. There will be no judgement here, not from me.” Hux interrupted, not wanting to make the poor thing say it out loud.

“Bless you, Sir.” Thanisson looked like he was going to cry again, and Hux couldn’t have that. He himself still hadn’t let tears fall, having woken up to a dry pillow. He certainly wasn’t going to start now, not yet. There was work to be done.

“Nonsense. My two favorite crew members are alive and well.” Hux smiled gently, placing a hand on Thanisson and Mitaka’s shoulder. He leaned in conspiratorially, and said in a low voice, “Let’s see what we can do about these pirates, hmm? We’ve got a Spaniard to catch.”

“May I, Sir?” Mitaka brightened up even further, practically rocking onto his tip-toes.

“I thought I’d never get to say, you may.” Hux nodded with a smile, and Mitaka turned around to face the rest of the ship, cupping his hands around his mouth.

“All hands on deck!” He shouted, all the surrounding crew immediately stopping what they were doing to scramble into a crowd in front of Hux.

“All hands on deck!” The crew said back, alerting any pirates that had been below deck.

As word spread throughout the ship, pirates came from all ends to join the crowd. Hux watched them climb down from the yards and the nets above, ascend from decks down below. It was a strange crew, that was for sure. In the light of day, he saw many of them were not nearly as clean or well-kept as Captain Ren’s crew had been, some even looked like they were beginning to succumb to scurvy. Hux refrained from making a comment about their beloved captain, Maul, who clearly gave enough of a fuck about them as he had about his ship.

“Alright you filthy bilge-rats!” He said instead, switching to a way of speaking he knew they would understand. Mitaka’s knowing smile didn’t go unnoticed, but Hux continued either way. “Who wants to spill some easy blood?” He asked, confident in their answer.

“Arr!” They shouted, swords unsheathed and held up in the air. Hux grinned, this was going to be good.

“Have you heard of a General called Organa? Who sails with rebels and leaves cities blazing in her path?” He asked, stepping toward the crowd.

“Aye!” The crew responded, and Hux could tell from their eyes that they understood and weren’t just shouting nonsense because it was early and they were shitfaced.

“Do you want to help me kill her?” He asked, spreading his arms wide and placing them on his hips.

“Aye!” They all grinned, teeth black and gold. Hux tried to not look too hard at the gold teeth, not now, _not yet,_ he reminded his tears.

“Excellent, here’s the plan.” He grinned. They had work to do. 

 

* * *

  

With the sails pointed in the right direction, they pushed with the currents to travel around South America. Hux longed for a passage of sorts, a channel perhaps, a way for them to cross through the ocean without having to circumnavigate, but alas, there was none. Maybe that could be a project for another day, he thought.

The journey would take a little less more than a week, four days to sail down to the southernmost tip of the continent, and four days to get back all the way up to where Organa should be stationed just outside of Peru. He wondered if her negotiations would be done sooner rather than later, if they would meet on her path to return to Spain.

The first day had been nothing but eager planning, organizing the ship’s supplies and the like. Hux had done little else other than catalog exactly how much of what they owned, calculating and recalculating to give them the best plans of action. It looked like their strongest course was to blow the thing to smithereens, they had more cannons and powder than anything else.

“Who here knows how to fire the cannons properly?” Hux had asked during the crew assembly, after he had told them the plan. He was met with blank stares from everyone in front of him. “You lot can’t be serious.” He scoffed.

“Beg’n yer pardon, Cap’n, but you and Cap’n Ren killed all tha men who worked tha guns. We’ve only got tha lads who load ‘em up.” The pirate with one eye finally spoke up in an uncertain tone. The others had murmured in agreement, and Hux scrubbed a hand over his face in disbelief.

“Of _course_ we did.” He had sighed, wracking his brain to figure out what the next plan of action could be. If they didn’t have gunpower, they had manpower, but clearly Maul’s men weren’t the best of fighters, if his killing of them was so easy. He didn’t realize he was pacing until Thanisson spoke up.

“Sir, before I was your barrelman, I was a powder monkey meself.” Thanisson had said, humbly stepping forward.

“Is that so?” Hux asked, an eyebrow raised. It wasn’t entirely out of the ordinary for people to move position on a ship, but typically, once you found your niche, you stayed along that route. He was surprised Thanisson hadn’t continued on with the guns when he joined the Navy.

“Indeed, Sir. I can load the cannons and fire them too.” He nodded confidently. Hux smiled at his eagerness, but sighed, thinking practically.

“You can’t do them by yourself all at the same time, that would be impossible.” He pointed out. There were nine guns aboard Maul’s ship, four on the second deck, and five on the third deck. He would have to run between decks and that would exhaust the poor boy before Hux could even say _fire._

“I’d like to prove you wrong there, Sir.” Thanisson winked playfully. Hux figured it was better than nothing, even if only one gun fired, that was still an advantage they had over a simple merchant’s ship.

“Then by all means.” Hux said, conceding to Thanisson’s request.

Things were running relatively smoothly after that, no major hiccups as they crossed the tip of the continent. Hux had taken to drilling the men in combat, similarly to the training exercises he had undergone in the Academy. Of course there were some pirates who still didn’t feel the need to follow Hux’s orders, and Hux dealt with them accordingly.

One man by the name of Pitts, found himself gagged with tar covered rope for insubordination, and was left tied to a mast for all to see. No one stepped out of line then, not in fear of Hux, but out of respect that he was a man who kept his word. If you did as Hux said, you would be fine – not only would you live, but you’d be a better sailor in the end; that was a lesson they all learned.

During the days leading up to the inevitable battle between his men and Organa’s, he was pleased to hear stories circulating about him, about the Starkiller. Mitaka, Thanisson and Rod had been more than gracious in providing rather adventurous tales of their time with Hux as their captain. Spots was still so new to Hux’s crew that he found himself listening to the stories alongside the pirates, wide eyed with wonder just like the rest of them.

Two days before they were supposed to reach the coast of Peru, some of the men from the crew offered gifts to Hux, more earrings and pieces of jewelry that Hux proudly wore. He had to have Mitaka pierce his ears again, as he needed more holes to accommodate all the rings and jeweled studs, refusing to take away the small golden hoop that Captain Ren had bestowed unto him all those days ago.

With training occupying most of his time, he let his mind wander to his conversation with Mitaka. Would Ren ever come back for him? Try to win back his heart? He wondered if Ren jumped onto his ship immediately after Hux had taken over Maul’s, or if he were still on the island. He grit his teeth, what if he were stuck with Snoke? The man that filled his head with poison and twisted the truth to meet his own agenda? As badly as Hux was still hurt, he couldn’t bear to think of Ren being subject to the harsh verbal abuse, possibly even physical.

He shook himself out of his thoughts by the time they had finally arrived, clothes clean and sword polished. He had no real way of knowing Organa was even going to be there still, but given the fact that they hadn’t crossed paths in the eight days their journey took, he was willing to put his intuition up for bet. It was a beautiful day for bloodshed, Hux thought, the sea was calm and warm in these waters, the wind was salty as always, but of a different kind. Hux could almost taste the tropics in the air, could hear the gulls cry loud and high as they branched away from the shore.

“Ship sighted!” Thanisson called from the crows nest, effectively sounding the alarm. “Ship sighted!” He repeated, making sure everyone heard.

“Is it _Tantive IV_?” Hux shouted back up, squinting against the bright cloudless sun.

“I’m not sure, Sir. This vessel looks much larger than the one we’re expecting.” Came the uncertain reply. Hux frowned, that didn’t bode well.

“Not to worry, there are bound to be other ships along this coast.” He shouted up, rushing to the rail and trying to spot the speck on the horizon that Thanisson was referring to. “Can you make out the colors?”

“They’re waving Spanish flags, Sir! That much is certain.” Thanisson said, causing Hux to frown even deeper. By now, the whole crew had gathered to hear Thanisson’s report, and at the mention of Spanish flags, they all began to murmur, quietly overlapping one another in conversation.

“Not that I don’t trust you, Thanisson, but I’m coming up to take a look.” Hux called, before climbing the mast with now practiced ease.

Once he scaled the nets, he didn’t even have to ask before Thanisson was holding the small telescope out to him. He placed the viewport up to his eye, and cursed, _loudly._ So loudly in fact, that the men below who had stopped their sword training to gossip, had now stopped their gossip.

“Those are indeed Spanish flags, Thanisson, and I don’t see any other ships in sight. I’m afraid we’re going to have to attack a much larger vessel than we intended.” Hux pinched his eyes closed, massaging his temples to will away another headache.

“What shall we do, Sir?” Thanisson asked, looking over the crows nest to the men waiting for news down below.

“The same thing we planned. It’s just going to take a bit more force, I’m afraid.” Hux squared up, not one to be defeated by a minor setback such as this. “Let’s head down. You go make sure all the cannons are prepared for the first ring of fire.”

“Yes Sir!” Thanisson grinned, climbing over the side of the crows nest and jumping from yard to yard rather than using the nets. Hux couldn’t help but chuckle at Thanisson’s childlike qualities, even after all he had been through.

“What’s tha news, Cap’n?” One-Eye – as Hux had dubbed him – asked.

“The news is, that _is_ the ship we’re looking for.” Hux said, cracking a few knuckles in his hand. The crew broke out into chatter again, until Hux put a hand up. “The information I was given was incorrect, Organa is sailing on a man-of-war, most likely armed with both men and guns.”

“So, yer sayin’, more men to kill?” One-Eye asked with a devilish twinkle in his eye. Hux laughed at that, sending the rest of the crew to grin.

“I like the way you think.” Hux nodded, looking at everyone in the eye as best as he could. “Are you all still with me?” He asked, grabbing the hilt of his sword and raising it above his head.

“Aye!” The crew cheered, following suit.

“Then let’s give ‘em hell! Rod, full speed ahead.” Hux ordered, his former quartermaster all too happy to oblige.

Hux walked to the railing that faced off the starboard bow, and waited. All they could do now was exactly that, wait, and hope they survive this battle.

 

Whoever had given their information to the Navy would _pay,_ Hux thought as watched his ship sidle right up alongside Organa’s. Organa had _not_ been alone on this diplomatic mission, and she had _not_ been on a simple merchant’s vessel. The towering man-of-war nearly blocked out the sun with the height of its sails, painted in a red the color of rust. From the moment Hux saw it through that telescope, there was an optimistic part of him that hoped it was another pirate vessel, hoped he could use his position as Captain to strike a deal, but once he saw which colors flew from the sails with his own eyes, once they had agreed to advance anyway, he had clenched his jaw in such tight fury that he had to order his ship to pick up speed three times before anyone understood what he was saying.

Men and women in horrible orange tunics and baggy trousers sprang up from below deck, seemingly endless in number. Hux had two-hundred men aboard his ship, Organa had traveled with nearly triple, and they all laughed with an arrogance that had Hux itching to swing first and ask questions later.

“Kill who you want, take what you can, but remember, Organa is _mine._ ” Hux growled, that feral feeling of an animalistic nature to kill filling his chest.

“Aye Cap’n!” His crew cheered, rushing into the fray, jumping from their ship to the one of the Spanish.

Despite being military grade, Organa’s weaponry was outdated. They were slow in loading their cannons, and Hux took advantage of that, ordering _fire_ faster than anyone could blink. Cannons barreled through the hull of Organa’s ship in one straight line, just low enough for water to start to pour through the gaping holes.

“Beautiful shot there, Thanisson!” Hux called over to his friend, who beamed with pride. He didn’t hesitate before readying the next set of cannons, running between each of the guns to make sure they would all fire simultaneously. Hux grinned appreciatively, Thanisson knew how much Hux appreciated order, and it showed.

Hux gained momentum in his run before jumping over the railing and landing on the lower platform of Organa’s poop deck. Already blood slicked the ground, and that sick desire to spill it flared up in his chest. He only hoped it wasn’t from his own crew.

“Viva la Resistencia!” A dashing young man with a mop of curls and one of those ugly orange tunics lunged at him.

Quick on his feet and adrenaline buzzing in his ears, Hux parried with just enough time to avoid getting his throat sliced into. Using his leverage to his advantage, he shoved the man away and twisted his cutlass up in a beautiful arc that had the Spaniard’s sword flying over the side of the ship.

“La Resistencia… no se dejará intimidar por ti.” The Spaniard spit blood on the ground as Hux backed him against the rail of the ship.

“Won’t they?” Hux asked with an eyebrow quirked, running the man through and tossing him overboard. There were screams and shouts from Organa’s crew as they watched the man fall. Hux assumed he had been a captain, or something of equal stature to have been loved by so many – a poster boy of sorts.

Hux ran into the main fray, swinging his sword and hacking at any enemy he could see. It was nothing but a blur of colors, orange and black. So much orange, Hux thought as he sliced and stabbed his way to where he knew Organa had to be hiding. He still had his gun, had all the bullets loaded in that he could, and was planning on saving them for the illustrious General.

The sharp metallic clang of steel on steel rang in the air in a cacophony, no rhyme or rhythm to the sound. There were hundreds of swords drawn, and some had already made their marks, other had not been so successful. Hux was dismayed to find that many of the dead bodies were that of the crew he overtook – they weren’t _his_ men, not by anything other than technicality, but it still pained him to see so many swathed in black fallen atop a deck or kicked to the sharks below. Hux had come into this fight outnumbered, but he’d be damned if he would go down with any of these men.

“Fire!” Hux shouted, loud enough that he knew Thanisson could hear, even from the other ship. The wind carried the noise, and not one full second after the word had been uttered did a new wave of cannons plow through the hull of the ship, this time hitting lower than the previous set.

Organa’s ship lurched to the side as the force from the blow traveled through the rest of the ship, and Hux had to hold onto a mast to prevent sliding down the deck as the ship slid abeam to port. That one had been a little close, Hux thought, not wanting the ship to capsize – at least not yet.

Hux used what upper body strength he had to climb up the mast while it was tiled in an angle that the nets were still barely scalable, gripping tightly when the ship corrected itself and straightened its tilt. Four of Organa’s soldiers scrambled up the beam after him, swiping at his ankles with fervor in an attempt to incapacitate him, but Hux was too fast for them, and scurried up the mast with all the energy he could muster.

In true buccaneer fashion, Hux stood atop the highest yard and scouted for Organa’s cabin. He didn’t know this ship, hadn’t been given its layout, but he could guess where she might be. After a few moments of searching, he simply couldn’t waste any more time and had to move, lest the soldiers catch up to him. Heart fluttering in his chest, he took hold of one of the strongest ropes he could, and jumped off the yard.

Like some great monkey soaring through the sky, Hux held onto that rope for dear life, using his free hand to wield the cutlass. He killed down some Spaniards that had surrounded one of his men, took all their heads off in one clean swoop as the momentum from swinging on the rope carried him down and away.

“Es el _Starkiller_!” A man shouted, drawing everyone’s attention to Hux who was attempting to redirect the inertia of the rope to a more suitable direction.

Hux’s men took advantage of the Spanish’s momentary distraction and killed as many as they could, more and more blood dumping into the ocean. Hux let go of the rope and dropped onto the quarter deck, landing perfectly on his feet. Hux was pleased with his ability to not completely shatter his knees, and he began advancing on the enemies in orange.

“This,” Hux snarled, as he hacked away an extremely muscular man who just wasn’t fast enough, “Is for what you lot did to my _ship._ ” He slit the man’s throat and kicked him into a stack of crates.

“This,” Hux turned on a young woman who had a shaved head and the Resistance’s logo inked into the scalp, “Is for what you did to my _fleet._ ” He chopped off the woman’s sword fighting arm, picking up the fallen sword and using the now two of them to separate that bald head from the woman’s body.

“And _this_ ,” Hux’s voice escalated in volume as he approached a man he recognized from the burning of his town, one with dark skin and kind eyes, one who he knew stood by as the store where he had once called home burned, “Is for what you lot did to my _mother!_ ” He screamed as he drove both swords into the man’s shoulder, watching him crumple to the ground with an agonized scream of what sounded like the word _Rey_.

Everything stopped then, not a single word was uttered, not a single sword clashed. After what felt like ages, it seemed that all the men and women on board sprang into action, and Hux watched, almost in third person, as a group of Organa’s soldiers surrounded him and kicked him to the ground, getting the swords as far away from him as they could. Someone took the pistol from his belt and tossed it into the ocean while others restrained his wrists behind his back. They were shouting, shouting something about having killed the prince, but Hux couldn’t make it all out.

“You cowards!” Hux screamed, kicking fiercely and thrashing with what was left of his unbound body, “Unhand me and fight me like men! Cowards!” He shouted, high and shrill.

“You have just harmed Prince Finn, heir to the throne!” A soldier yelled at him with an accent so thick Hux almost couldn’t make out what he said.

“Long live the Queen.” Hux spit, getting a hard punch to the face for the sarcasm.

While soldiers rushed to the fallen prince’s aid, Hux was dragged down below deck. The water hadn’t yet spread to the upper levels, but the ship was slowly sinking, and Hux grit his teeth when they kept going further and further down. He didn’t make it easy, biting and kicking and spitting the whole way down, but there was two feet of water already sloshing about when they finally threw him into a cell, slamming the door and tossing the key aside.

“Davy Jones will be expecting you.” The same solider who spoke to him before said. Hux assumed he was the only one who knew enough English to effectively communicate. Hux didn’t bother telling him he understood Spanish, he didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

The cell was large, most likely meant to carry at least two dozen prisoners, but Hux was the only one occupying it. The water sloshed up close to his knees, and he found himself grateful for his height. Hands still bound behind him, he set to work trying to find a way to cut through the ropes, mentally calculating how long he would have before the water would drown him.

He spotted a bar in the cell door that had been cut just enough to rid it of its smooth surface, and with no other option in sight, trudged through the water and positioned his hands just so the rope would rub against the jagged steel. If he were diligent, the rough surface may just do the trick and cut through the rope, but these ropes were thick and well braided, and would take a long time to slice.

To make matters worse, Hux heard thunder. Tropical summer storms were nothing new to Hux, not at this point anyway. But the last time a storm struck a ship he was on, all but seven of his crew remained. Hux moved his hands faster, painfully aware of imminent death.

“Come on, come _on_.” He muttered to himself, the water rising past his knees now. If he had counted correctly, he was on the lowest deck, the fourth one. They had sent their cannons to the second and third, so any water that was coming into the ship would be coming from above. He didn’t stop his movements as he looked up, and saw water was indeed seeping through the floorboards above him, and sloshing down from the stairwell.

He could hear the ropes finally starting to split, but just when he only needed a few moments more, the ship lurched heavily to one side, flinging Hux and all the water with it. The force of the ship’s movement had nearly capsized it, and Hux saw a peak of sky through the blast in the hull. It was angry and dark, lightning crackling and spray whipped up in tornado-like fashion as it swirled about in the air.

Cannons had struck, and Hux was livid – livid and confused. Who had given the order to fire? Why had Thanisson listened? The tilt of the ship meant all the water came rushing down on Hux’s head, he couldn’t think of much else other than survival as he kicked his legs to swim towards the surface. He truly began to panic when he saw that the water extended beyond the bars of his cell, and as he reached them, he had to struggle to control his breath. Air was just out of reach, the water was too murky to see just how far, or to see where the key might be to unlock the door. His hands were still bound anyway, but Hux refused to give up defeat.

The ship creaked and groaned then, and began to correct its tilt, all the water rushing back to a more even level, and Hux gasped for dear life, sucking in lungfuls of air. Panting and coughing, he set to work on the ropes around his hands again, finally getting rid of them. Massaging his wrists, he backed up as far as he could go, and ran full speed at the bars. They didn’t break down, like Hux had hoped they would, but they did budge, so Hux did it again. And again. And again. He knew he would be bruised all along the side of his body he kept slamming into the cell door, but if there was any chance of survival, it could be found outside of this room.

Another round of cannons exploded through the walls, and Hux could hear the yelling and screams of more men, so many more men than he knew to still be alive and onboard. Distracted by the sounds coming from up above, he was caught off guard by the tilt of the ship again, and only had enough presence of mind to suck in as big of a breath as he could before the water slammed back on top of him. This time, a pile of crates from the far side of the cell came crashing down on top of him, pinning him to the wall. The impact knocked the air out of Hux’s lungs, and he watched miserably as the air bubbles rose to the surface. 

Pushing and pushing, he couldn’t get the crates to budge. Even with the buoyancy of the water, the crates were still too heavy. A cannon blasted through the wall just a few feet above Hux, sending wooden splinters and shards flying in all sorts of directions. Through the hole in the wall it made, Hux could see the beams of sunlight shining down on him.

He had never been an overtly religious man, but he figured that with everything he had done, if there were a Hell, he’d be going to it. He didn’t dare close his eyes, no matter how badly they stung against the salt water, he wanted to see the rays of the sun on his skin one last time. All he could hear were the drowning cries of sunken ships, knowing he would perish with the lot of them. His body screamed, his lungs burned, he could feel he was bleeding, and he too was going to drown. There was no ship to hold on to as it sailed away this time, but there was the sun, momentarily unobscured by clouds. The Spaniard was right, Davy Jones had been waiting for him ever since the sinking of the Finalizer, where he should have perished. It felt only fitting that he be humiliated in this way, his punishment for trying to cheat death.

With those thoughts running through his head, it was almost comical that something then moved in view of the sun, shielding Hux’s eyes from the rays. If he weren’t dying, he might have been annoyed. His eyes slipped closed, body finally giving out, the trauma on his lungs too harsh to deal with any longer. He was so far gone delirious, that he could have sworn he felt two strong arms wrapping around his waist, pulling him towards the surface.

He felt his face break from the freezing water, the deep voice in his ear begging him to _breathe_ too painful to obey. He blacked out before he could consider it.

 

* * *

 

Kylo frantically pulled Hux towards the stairs, water rushing in from all directions as the ship threw it this way and that.

“We’re almost there,” He said to Hux, who was still unconscious, “Almost there my love.”

Kylo had finally, finally caught up to Hux’s ship, and he refused to believe it was too late. It had been a sign, Kylo knew it had to have been a sign, when the storm rolled in from the South, bringing with it the cover that Kylo needed to make his attack. When he saw the state of Hux’s ship, he didn’t hesitate to jump aboard Organa’s vessel – much larger and more heavily armed than they were expecting, Kylo noticed – and start killing. He had needed to find Organa, yes, but first he needed to find Hux.

When Hux had been no where in sight, he grew worried. More than worried, he became terrified. Had he been killed and thrown over? Had the sharks below ripped him limb from limb like they had to the poor sailors already floating face down? Had he not even made it the rest of the journey, a mutiny on his hands by Maul’s old men? There weren’t answers, and no time to ask for any, so he did what he did best, and swung his sword through muscle and bone.

He had taken refuge for a moment in a small room off the starboard bow, where he had tried to collect his thoughts, and found that he was not alone.

“Ben?” He heard a woman ask, and though the voice was different, Kylo could never forget the particular accent belonging to his cousin.

He turned and saw Rey, sitting down on a trunk that was tucked against the wall. Her black fitted dress blended in with the shadows too well, it was no wonder Kylo didn’t notice her when he first walked in. She stood then, when she recognized that it was him, her jewelry clinking against itself. Kylo always found it morbidly amusing that the Spanish almost always dressed in black, always in mourning for someone. It reminded him too much of Hux’s clothing that Phasma made for him, except where he wore a suit with red details, Rey was in a royal court dress, with gold embroidery. She wore her hair up secured with a headpiece that fanned out like a great crown. Kylo couldn’t help but think it entirely impractical for her to be dressed this way while on a sinking ship, but then again, when had his family ever done anything practically?

“He’s dead.” Kylo finally replied, holding his sword out to keep Rey at a distance.

“Then I have truly gone mad.” She slumped back down onto the trunk and put her head in her hands. Kylo noticed belatedly that she had been crying, and was growing uncomfortable now that he had realized that her shaking wasn’t from the movement of the ship.

“What have you lost to warrant grief?” Kylo asked, partly curious and partly aggravated. He didn’t have the time to deal with Rey right now, he had other matters to attend to.

“My beloved lies on a cot unresponsive, an Admiral with flaming hair struck him down.” She said, looking up at him. The thin light from the window illuminated her tears, but Kylo’s brain fixated on something else.

“What? He’s here? The Admiral?” Kylo stormed over to her, towering over her small frame. Rey had always been petite, and Kylo used that to his advantage now, no time to play nicely.

“They took him below right after he pulled the swords out of my Finn’s body.” Rey stood, voice hardened as she searched his eyes. He couldn’t have cared less about Finn, about the state of his condition, not when there was a chance _Hux_ still lived.

“Where, Rey? Which deck?” He asked, holding the sword to her throat. She narrowed her eyes and shoved the sword away.

“The lowest, down to the brig.” She spit, lip curling up. “You love this man, don’t you?” She asked, uncertainty in her voice, as if she wanted it to be untrue. How wrong Kylo would prove her, he thought, how wrong. 

“More than any of you will ever know.” Kylo lowered his sword and stepped away, already planning on how he was to make it down to the brig in enough shape to rescue Hux.

“You’ve broken all our hearts, Ben!” Rey shouted from across the room when Kylo put a hand on the door handle.

“I hope to do much worse than that.” He replied, refusing to turn back and look her in the eye.

She rushed over to him, grabbing his sleeve with both her small hands. The ship lurched then, a few inches of water sloshing around, moving fallen objects across the floor. He panicked, he _needed_ to get to Hux, if he was on the lowest deck, he was going to drown, and _soon._

“I won’t let you go!” Rey insisted, pulling Kylo away from the door, or at least trying to. “Come home with us, your mother misses you terribly.” She begged, but Kylo just shook her off and held his sword level with her face.

“I will fight you if I have to, Rey.” He vowed, advancing toward her.

“And to do what? Have me take your other eye?” She asked, exasperated.

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” Kylo growled, backing her up against the wall again.

“Ben please – ” She tried, reaching for anything that she might use as a weapon – a sword, a staff, anything, but finding nothing.

“My name is Kylo Ren! Master of the Knights of Ren, Captain of the Silencer, and reigning King of the Pirates! You will address me as such.” He finally exploded, bringing the hilt of his sword hard down onto her shoulder, knocking her to the ground.

“King of the…? You don’t mean!” She gasped, a hand flying up to her shoulder. Kylo crouched down in front of her, the temptation to take her eye almost too strong.

“Oh but I do.” He said, voice low, almost as if his devotion to Hux was a secret. “And once I’m through with you, I’m going to find my mother and add her head to my basket, and present both to my Admiral so he may rule the seas with me.” He grinned.

“You’ve lost it.” She finally understood that there was nothing he wouldn’t do for Hux, and Kylo knew she would let him go.

“Maybe. Or, I never had it to begin with.” He shrugged.

He reached to rip the eye from her head right as the ship lunged again, this time knocking Kylo back far enough that he had to roll back onto his feet. There was more than just a few inches of water now, it was nearing a foot deep, and Kylo had to hurry.

There weren’t many of Organa’s crew left, his Knights had led an attack with the rest of his men to slaughter any sailors or soldiers in orange that they came across. By the time they had finally arrived however, most of Hux’s men had been killed. The only surviving ones were two scrawny men who were fighting back to back with the precision of military training. Kylo wondered if they had been surviving crew from the _Finalizer_ , and commended their inability to die.

The storm had raged on, sky dark and full of heavy clouds, just the way Kylo liked it. Lightning illuminated the ship, casting harsh shadows on the faces of the fallen. Kylo paid them no mind as he stepped over them, careful of the deck that was slippery with rain and blood.

He ran down below deck, deeper and deeper, wading into the waters with a frantic search in his mind, any sign of life, any floating body he checked, hoping and praying that it wasn’t Hux, that his beloved hadn’t perished yet. The _Silencer_ was still firing cannons, and Kylo had to duck and dodge as they barreled through the walls, sinking the ship further, slowly but surely. He could feel the splinters digging into his skin, small rivulets of blood running down to join the murky water under his feet, but he pushed on.

Finally reaching the lower deck, he had to grip the rail of the ladder for balance as he saw that due to the shift of the ship, all the water had rushed to one side, putting half of it under. A hole in the wall shone light down on something that glinted just on the surface, it was a key on a ring, and without thinking, Kylo dove after it. Wrapping a hand around the small – such a _small_ thing, how _lucky_ he was to have found it, he thought – key, he took in as deep of a breath as he could and dove down into the water, pushing his arms as quickly as they would go to propel him further down. The key fit snugly into the lock, and the door of the cell swung open, clanging against itself as Kylo swam through the opening.

Light shone down on Hux’s face, as if Poseidon himself created a searchlight just for Kylo, and Kylo’s heart nearly burst when Hux’s eyes focused on him. He was alive, he was _alive!_ Kylo couldn’t do anything except swim further, yank the crates away from Hux’s still _living_ body, and drag him to the surface.

They broke through the water, and Kylo gasped for breath, but Hux wouldn’t move. Kylo looked down to see his eyes closed, wet eyelashes a dark dark red from being soaked. He had a head wound that steadily oozed from his temple, splashing blood onto his forehead and into his hair.

“Breathe, _breathe_ damnit!” Kylo begged, pulling Hux away to the stairs.

Hux was unresponsive, so he tossed him over his shoulder and scaled the ladders to the upper decks as quickly as he could.

The two men who had been fighting side by side caught sight of Kylo and Hux, and rushed to their aid.

“Is he dead?” One of them asked splattered in blood from head to toe. His chest was heaving, but his hands didn’t shake.

“I can’t tell, he was alive just a few moments ago.” Kylo gently moved Hux from off his shoulder and into a bridal style carry, letting the two men get a good look at him. The other man – really closer to a boy, if Kylo were being honest – pressed two fingers to Hux’s throat, and sighed with relief as he nodded.

“Put him down, there’s hope to save him yet.” The first man said, and Kylo did as he was told, not in the frame of mind to scold the man for giving him orders. 

“Thanisson, on my count,” The first man said to the other, to Thanisson. “One, two, three!” Thanisson pumped his hands over Hux’s chest and began to pump up and down, counting to one hundred before leaning back so the first man could pinch Hux’s nose and breathe into his mouth.

“Again!” He said, when nothing happened. “One, two, three!” He counted down, and Thanisson went to work again, using slightly more force this time. Hux’s eyelashes fluttered, and Kylo held onto his hand tight enough to break the bones, scared out of his mind.

“Come on Armie.” He whispered, brushing stray locks of hair out of Hux’s face before the first man leaned down and breathed into Hux’s mouth again.

“One, two, three!” The man said, and Thanisson obliged, until finally _finally_ Hux coughed and sputtered up a lungful of water, waking from the dead and doubling over to empty his stomach and lungs of the sea.

“Thank the heavens, Sir!” The man lunged forward, holding onto Hux with all his might.

“Mitaka? Thank god you’re alive!” Hux rasped, his voice sore and raw. Mitaka laughed and hugged Hux tighter, joined by Thanisson who practically threw himself on top of the pair. “And Thanisson too! How did you two get me from the cell?” Hux asked, laughing freely, coughing all the while.

“We didn’t.” Thanisson shook his head.

“He did.” Mitaka nodded in the direction of Kylo, who was sitting on the floor beside them all but hadn’t said a word in fear of being rejected.

Hux propped himself up and turned to face Kylo, staring at him with eyes full of tears. He crawled over to where Kylo sat, and leaned in as close as he possibly could. Kylo could see one of his canines were missing, knocked right out of his head. He wondered how Hux would feel when he saw himself in the mirror, a permanent reminder of the day he almost died.

Kylo half expected Hux to pull his gun on him, but then he noticed that Hux didn’t have one to fire. They must have taken it away from him when he struck down Finn, probably threw it overboard. If Hux let him, Kylo would buy a thousand more for him, and give him a proper chance to make good on his promise then. Instead of being shot at, or stabbed, or kicked or punched or bit like he thought Hux would do, he was met with an armful of Admiral, who began steadily sobbing into his chest.

“You came for me.” Hux whispered, and Kylo gathered him up fully, not caring that they were getting soaked to the bone from the rain, that blood was pouring in streams from the bodies around them, everything was right with the world because Hux was back in his arms.

“Of course I did. I’ll always come for you.” Kylo assured him, rocking them gently and pressing light kisses to Hux’s hair. His lips came back bloody, but that wasn’t going to stop him from showering Hux in all the love he deserved.

“I thought I told you to stay away.” Hux pulled back slightly, a beautiful smile on his face that may or may not have to do with the fact that he was still dazed from being dead.

“I just had to see you one last time, to apologize. To offer you something.” Kylo ran a hand along Hux’s cheek, that was slightly shaking and freezing freezing cold. Hux lifted a shaking hand to cover Kylo’s own, and Kylo couldn’t help but grin when instead of shoving it away, he pressed it down further onto his skin.

“What if I don’t want anything of yours?” Hux asked playfully, that teasing glint in his eye slowly returning. God how Kylo had missed this man, his heart soared higher than it ever had.

“Would you please just take a look before you decide?” He asked back, feigning exasperation. Hux just grinned and nodded. “Bradshaw!” Kylo called, not entirely sure where his Knight had gone to.

Bradshaw appeared almost immediately, with a basket in his hands. The rain made him slide around on the deck as he skid to a stop, presenting the basket to Hux who was still being supported by Kylo’s arms. Bradshaw opened the lid of the basket for Hux, and Kylo held his breath as he reached in and removed the skull that had been so carefully cleaned and bleached.

“Holy shit. Is that – ?” Hux asked, unable to even finish the question. There was no doubt that it belonged to Snoke, the dent in the forehead was too recognizable to be anyone else. In the basket also were velvet bags full of gold coins and jewels, that Kylo didn’t dare leave behind when he sunk that old wretched man’s ship.

“It is. For you, my love.” Kylo smiled down at Hux, who only began to cry again.

They held onto one another until the storm passed, the sun brilliantly reflecting off the wet floor and scattering rainbows all around. Somehow, _Tantive IV_ was still afloat, albeit it halfway underwater. Soon they would return to the _Silencer_ , and hopefully live out the rest of their days happily on the ocean, but until then, they stayed put, watching the skies clear. The ship was quiet, almost everyone killed or tossed overboard, the sharks finally left after filling up on the flesh of a sailor. Almost everyone had died, but not absolutely everyone. There was still a matter of one person, the most important person. 

Gently shifting Hux off of his lap, Kylo stood, pulling Hux up with him. Bradshaw handed Hux a sword and together, he and Kylo stood with their chins high and their shoulders back.

“General!” Kylo shouted, booming his voice as loudly as it could go. “I know you’re here! Show yourself!” He said, chest puffed out with rage.

He knew his mother, knew her from a thousand miles away, but in the stark light of the storm, he didn’t recognize her at first.

Leia Organa had once been the strongest and toughest member of the royal family. She had been sent away as an infant to rule a neighboring country, raised under different customs and a different religion, spoke different tongues and read different poets, but in the end, she could not deny her heritage. She had once sent the British quaking to their knees, had strangled their Navy with her iron fists, but now she stood clutching her side, heavily leaning against a mast and looking at him with sadness in her eyes.

Her hair had greyed significantly, the lines in her face drawn deep and long. She looked like she had sailed the world a thousand times, and had grown tired of all its folly. He wondered when the change occurred, was it when he had slaughtered his father and friends? When he had ran away from home to follow the orders of a slaver? When he had denounced his right to the throne? Or worse yet, had it never been from one event at all, only the gradual decay from age that came with living?

How strange to think that as he grew older, so did she?

“I had hoped this day would come under better circumstances.” Leia said, loud enough for her voice to be carried by the winds.

“I can assure you, however you think this meeting is to go, you are mistaken.” Kylo said, voice hard. He thought of Rey, who had most likely evacuated in a life boat with Finn, rowing to shore to seek medical attention for her beloved prince. She had told him to come home and he had refused her, what made Leia think her luck would be any different?

“I will not be attempting to change your mind, Captain Ren.” She said with a defeated sigh. She had always had an uncanny ability to pick up on what other people were thinking, Kylo used to call her a witch whenever she would do it to him. “I do not fear you, I simply know better than to try.”

“It’s not me you ought to fear.” Kylo said with eyebrows raised. He placed a hand on the small of Hux’s back, who despite being terribly hurt and in excruciating pain, walked with a steadiness that Kylo would never have been able to muster.

“Admiral Hux, I do believe?” Leia asked, when there was no more than maybe ten feet between them.

“General. I must say, it is an honor to meet you at last.” Hux said, bowing sarcastically low, crossing his sword over his chest.

“I won’t be mocked by the likes of you.” Leia hissed, eyes narrowed. Hux just laughed, and took another step closer. Leia instinctively moved back, her arm still protectively holding her side. Kylo wondered what had struck her to wound her so, she was slowly dripping blood onto the deck.

“Strange, you’d think that Catholics would stick together under oppressive rule.” Hux hummed thoughtfully, as he all but circled her. “Stranger still that you wish to instill that oppression upon others. I’ll mock you all I like, you’re nothing but a hypocrite.”

“Pray tell what makes you say that?” Leia snorted, making the mistake of setting off a fuse within Hux.

“You show up on the shores of foreign lands with the promise of a better life for people who are happy the way things are.” He began, speaking so quickly and steadily that Kylo thought whatever speech that was coming had been scripted and rehearsed. “You take what you want from them and then leave them to ruin, focusing on funding your court and your royal parties.”

He pulled out his sword and dragged the point of it along the ground, scoring marks into the wood. Leia reached for her pocket, but found it empty. Kylo eyed a pistol that had fallen to the ground and walked over to it as inconspicuously as he could. It was a Spanish flintlock, similar in mechanism to the type Hux had had, and upon further inspection, Kylo saw the royal emblem embossed into the wood, this was the gun his mother was looking for, and he held onto it tightly.

“While you give all your attention to your Pope and your Bishops, the people you leave behind starve to death, resorting to piracy and theft under your rule to allow a loaf of bread as dinner for their families. You’ve got such a clutch on the past that you refuse to see that you are bleeding your people dry for their silver, leaving nothing but economic disaster and plague in your wake.” Hux continued, face schooled to be nothing but stoic.

“You call us evil, you say we’re the devil incarnate, when all we are trying to do is instill order to the chaotic mess you leave behind wherever you go. Just because you think yourself ordained by God doesn’t mean you actually have the power to change the tides, General.” He finally stopped circling Leia, who had to lean against the mast once more to regain her balance.

Hux had been stalling, waiting for her to lose enough blood that it would have been an easy kill. Easy blood spilt, Kylo thought. Surprisingly, he felt nothing at the thought of watching his mother die before his very eyes. She had not been a mother to him in many many years, and had done more harm through her silence than she had good. Kylo thought it was his turn to be silent, to stand by and watch as she got what she deserved.

He walked up to stand next to Hux, and met his mother’s eyes as he slid the gun into Hux’s back pocket. Leia hadn’t noticed, but Hux had, and a manic grin spread across his face.

“How are you Brits any different? You’ve colonized the known free world.” Leia asked, coughing up the blood that had traveled from the wound in her side.

“That’s simple,” Hux said, reaching behind himself and pulling the pistol out, cocking it with a definitive _click._ “I’m an Irishman.”

The pistol went off, and Kylo felt like he watched the bullet leave the barrel in slow motion, watched his mother fall with a wordless cry. He watched as with the last vestiges of her energy, she grabbed the hilt of Hux’s sword and pushed the blade into Hux’s stomach, not one to go out without a fight.

“Hux!” Kylo shouted, rushing to his side to collect his stunned lover into his arms. “Bradshaw! Gather the crew and return to the ship!” He ordered, scooping Hux up so he can hold him close. Hux was just blinking, dipping his fingers to touch the fabric where his own blood was slowly being absorbed. The sword was still in his stomach, thankfully it hadn’t gone through his back, and there was a strong chance he would live, but his body was already so weak from dying the _first_ time, Kylo didn’t know if he would make it again.

“Did I kill her?” Hux asked, trying to peer over Kylo’s shoulder.

“Yes my darling, you killed her.” Kylo’s voice broke on the pet name, he felt like such a fool for causing Hux such pain to where Kylo thought he would never be able to say it again. Hux settled back down into Kylo’s arms with a pleased smile on his tired face, wincing from the effort. “Don’t use that as an excuse to perish now, though. Don’t you dare.” Kylo teased, using his tone to mask his fear.

“I’ve no intention to, believe me.” Hux wheezed, coughing up a bubble or two of blood that spilled over his lips and onto his cheek.

“Just stay awake for me, Armie. Just stay awake.” Kylo begged, crossing the ship in long strides, followed by all the men who belonged to him.

“I’ll try.” Hux smiled tiredly up at Kylo, and Kylo’s heart stuttered when Hux reached up and placed one freezing hand on Kylo’s cheek.

They rushed to the Silencer, and got Hux to the medical ward just as he lost consciousness. The ship doctor ordered Kylo and the others to stand outside, not allowing entry so he could work in peace.

It was agony, the waiting was the hardest part. All he wanted to do was to burst into the room and hold Hux, to tell him he loved him again and again, repeating the words until Hux didn’t think of anything other than Kylo’s adoration for him.

The hours passed, and with them brought news of Hux’s strength recovering. He still hadn’t woken, but it was dark enough that called for dinner time, and Kylo demanded he be able to bring Hux some food. Surely he needed his nourishment, Kylo had argued, finally winning the upper hand and pushing his way through to the small room where his lover lay on a cot.

“Hux? My love?” Kylo asked quietly, not wanting to disturb him too much if he were awake.

He closed the door behind him, and approached Hux’s bedside. Hux looked like an angel, sleeping there with his hair fanned out around him. Kylo reached out and touched the pads of his fingertips to Hux’s lips, somehow soft despite being so chapped.

“I’ve brought some soup for you.” Kylo set the bowl down on Hux’s bedside table, watching the steam rise from the white porcelain.

There was no way he would be able to get the soup down Hux’s throat, not while he was asleep still. Kylo hoped he would wake up soon, he got onto his knees and for the first time in his life, clasped his hands together on the bed and prayed.

 

* * *

 

While Hux slept, he dreamed. Not nightmares, thankfully, but beautiful dreams of a golden empire. A laurel wreath on his head with clothing so white and polished that he glowed when the sun hit the fabrics, thick and luxurious brocades.

With the dreams, Kylo was there. He had gone back to calling him Kylo in his mind the moment he thought he might have died, he couldn’t deny the love he felt. He didn’t want to.

But yes, Kylo was there, and they danced, most of the time. They spun around and around on marble floors, swaying with the musicians on the ship. Hux laughed, in the dream he laughed and laughed, and there was nothing but joy and love in the air. He must have been on opium, he concluded as he swirled with Kylo across the grand room; opium was the only thing that made him feel so light, like he could float away if he didn’t have strong arms holding him down.

Kylo looked younger in his dreams, more at peace. Maybe the death of his mother will have brought him some closure, Hux wondered as Kylo dipped him just shy of too low, those big arms holding him securely. The music was soft, fast enough to twirl to but not much else. Hux wore his greatcoat and watched as it fanned out when Kylo spun him, feeling like some elegant princess.

In the dream, the music ended, and other party goers around him separated to applaud the musicians, but he refused to step away from Kylo, never wanting to be too far from him again. Kylo leaned down and pressed his lips against Hux’s ear, whispering the same thing over and over again.

“Wake up,” Kylo smiled against the softness of his cheek. In the dream, Hux was freshly shaven, and Kylo’s lips felt like heaven as they slid from Hux’s ear towards his mouth. “Wake up my darling.”

“No.” He replied, not wanting to leave this world, where the skies were always blue and the only clouds in sight were soft enough to rope down and line his bedding with.

“So stubborn, even in sleep.” Kylo smiled, springing into step for the next dance. This one was a lively jig, a series of strings and flutes that had a good bounce to them, and Kylo tugged Hux along, hand in hand to the center of the grand room.

“Five more minutes.” Hux whined, letting himself be pulled in all sorts of directions. Everything blurred around him but the beautiful face in front of his, a full grin of golden teeth flashing in the bright white light.

“Don’t you want to be with me in real life?” Kylo asked, pouting playfully as he pulled him close, only to push him away with the beat of the music.

“It’s easier to pretend nothing is wrong in here.” Hux explained, stepping from side to side and leaning up to let Kylo lift him off the ground for a moment.

“I’m sorry Hux, I know – ” Kylo began apologizing, but Hux cut him off with a wave of his hand and a dazzling smile.

“No, not _you_. I meant me, my body.” His smile began to fall, and Kylo swooped in, placing a kiss on his cheek to get him to be happy again. “I’m afraid of what pain I’ll be in.”

“You are no stranger to pain, Armitage.” Kylo pointed out, and he sighed, knowing this to be true. Still, in all his years, he had yet to be stabbed.

“Are you sure we can’t just stay here forever?” Hux asked teasingly. Kylo threw his head back and laughed, giving a bow to Hux who curtseyed at the end of the song.

“I’m sure. We can have our paradise out there, I promise.” Kylo took one of Hux’s slender hands in between his two massive palms.

“Give me one more dance, and then I’ll wake.” Hux placed his other hand on top of the small sandwich Kylo had made of them, and gave a gentle squeeze.

“Anything for you.” Kylo smiled, unable to deny Hux anything.

This time when they danced, it felt like the entirety of their kingdom joined them. Hux didn’t care that the minuet was French, it was a lovely dance and perfectly suited the music.

Beginning with the proper bow and curtsey, Kylo walked around Hux and bowed to the nearby women, who all swooned at the gesture. It was hard not to be impressed with Kylo, what with his broad frame and spectacular height. Kylo then returned to Hux and they formed lines, hand in hand as they stepped side to side and back and forth in perfect harmony. Then it was Hux’s turn to curtsey with the women, and they gave a spin or two around one another hand in hand before returning back to their partners. Then one by one, everyone got a chance to dance with everyone, gently stepping forward and back or side to side in diagonals. Hux and Kylo never broke eye contact, not when they were dancing with others even at the very end of the line. Kylo looked positively ready to devour Hux, and he suddenly had the longing to wake.

Thankfully, the ending of the song finally arrived, as did the dream.

“Armitage?” Hux heard Kylo ask as he blinked awake. Hux was warm, too warm, buried under blankets and sheets to give some pressure on his fragile body.

“I’m here, I’m here.” Hux assured him, giving a sleepy smile. He wasn’t in any pain yet, the drug still lingering in his system.

“Oh, thank God.” Kylo breathed a sigh of relief and sat gingerly on the bed, as close to Hux as he could.

“This all seems a little dramatic, doesn’t it?” Hux asked, gesturing to the dozens of lit candles that surrounded him. “It feels like a vigil.”

“I wanted to stay with you. You were talking in your sleep, I thought you might have developed a fever.” Kylo explained, and Hux looked to the window, it was pitch black outside. He wondered how long Kylo had been sitting there, looking back to the chair where Kylo had been, he saw an imprint of Kylo’s pert ass in the cushion, and determined it must have been quite a while.

“How long was I out for?” Hux asked, struggling to sit up. Kylo rushed forward to help him, pulling and pushing Hux’s limbs into a comfortable position, being mindful of the stitching in Hux’s stomach.

“A little over a day. The sword missed all your vital organs, Doc stitched you up real well.” Kylo smoothed a hand over the sheets, sounding like he was convincing himself as much as he was convincing Hux. “You must be so hungry, look, I brought you soup.”

Hux looked to the bedside table, where not one, but four bowls of soup were stacked and waiting. He couldn’t help but smile, they were all piping hot. Only Kylo could think that Hux needed fresh soup made to catch up on the meal times he had missed. If he had been honest, he would have told Kylo how little he ate on Maul’s ship – he didn’t need to think of it as his own anymore, not that it lived at the bottom of the ocean.

“That smells wonderful,” he said instead, not wanting to worry Kylo further. “Would you mind helping me?” He asked, the soup _did_ smell fantastic, and it made his stomach go off loudly.

“Anything,” Kylo laughed at the sound, before his eyes softened and he reached for the spoon. “Anything at all for you.”

Together, Hux managed to swallow two bowls of the soup. It felt so strange having a stomach full of something that wasn’t just air and salt, and Hux couldn’t help but cry at the gentle way Kylo was treating him. It never ceased to astound him, that they had gone through so much, done so much to one another, and yet, after everything, Kylo still wanted to be soft with Hux.

“I love you.” Hux blurted. Kylo froze, the hope in his face doing Hux in for good. “I’ve never stopped loving you. I need you to know that, all the things I said when I was angry, I thought it mattered, I thought all of it mattered. But then I died, and I knew I didn’t want my last words to you be goodbye.” Hux cried and cried, and Kylo was so relieved that he held Hux’s hand up to his cheek, leaning into the touch.

“I have never hated myself for saying the things that I did more than I hate myself now. There is no apology great enough, no explanation clear enough, to beg your forgiveness back.” Kylo started, “If you were to order me away, I would gladly go, if it meant taking your pain with you.”

“I fear if you ever stray from my side again I may very well perish.” Hux laughed, crying still.

“Marry me. Then I’ll be right here, forever.” Kylo dropped down to one knee, still holding Hux’s hand, producing a golden band from one of his pockets.

“Do you mean it?” Hux asked, whispering. Kylo bit his lips nervously, nodding.

“I have never meant something more.” He said with sincerity.

“Yes. Of course, _yes_.” Hux didn’t care about his stitches, or any other wounds he may have, he threw himself over the side of the bed and into Kylo’s arms.

They tumbled together on the floor until Kylo was able to slip the ring on Hux’s finger, pulling him down to kiss him a dozen times, lips peppering sweet kisses all across Hux’s face. Hux sought Kylo’s lips, swallowing down a needy whine with his tongue as he licked into Kylo’s mouth deep and slow. Kylo sat them both up, placing Hux effectively in his lap, holding him close.

When they pulled apart, Hux grinned at the expression on Kylo’s face. He just couldn’t stop looking at Hux, touching his face, his cheeks, his forehead, his nose, even his eyelids all received the same gentle treatment as his lips did.

“May I…may I have a mirror?” Hux asked, curious to see how he had fared from the fight. He could see properly out of both eyes, so that wasn’t a concern of his, but still, he wanted to know.

“You’re gorgeous.” Kylo shook his head, nuzzling that great nose of his into the hollow of Hux’s throat, licking at his pulse.

“Always with the compliments.” Hux rolled his eyes, combing his fingers through Kylo’s hair.

“Shall I woo you again?” Kylo grinned, pulling back to look at Hux through lidded eyes. “Your skin is as smooth as fresh cream, your eyes sparkle with the mirth of a thousand angels when you laugh.”

“Death take me now!” Hux playfully lamented, leaning back with nothing but Kylo’s arms to keep him from tumbling backwards.

“Never! I’ll fight the reaper himself to keep you with me.” Kylo pulled him back, and they kissed again.

Eventually, Kylo sighed theatrically and handed a polished hand mirror to Hux, who immediately began to inspect his appearance. Overall, nothing had changed. He looked tired, that was certain, the bags under his eyes deeper than he ever remembered them before. He was also cleanly shaven, just like he had been in his dream, and he wondered if the doctor had cleaned him up while he was unconscious. That aside, everything looked like it was supposed to. He had both his eyes, his nose, both ears, and …

“I – I lost a tooth?” Hux asked, pulling his lips back to inspect the canine that he knew for a fact hadn’t been gold. Kylo looked down, biting his lip again.

“I hope you don’t mind, I – I can have it replaced with a regular white one, I j-just thought you might like it.” Kylo stammered, refusing to meet Hux’s eyes.

“It’s perfect.” Hux whispered, before placing the mirror down and throwing his arms around Kylo’s shoulders. “Kylo, it’s perfect!”

“You said my name.” Kylo beamed, that bright dopey smile lighting up his whole face and making Hux’s heart practically burst. He pressed a sweet kiss to Kylo’s lips once more, drunk off the feeling.

“What else would I call you?” He tugged on one of Kylo’s ears, careful not to pull on one of the many hoops, but the dorky thing itself.

“I was afraid I’d never hear it from your lips again. The way your voice shapes the vowels melts my very soul.” Kylo closed his eyes and pressed his cheek against Hux’s, trying to feel the laugh as it reverberated through Hux’s body.

“My, we really _are_ dramatic tonight, aren’t we?” Hux tangled a hand in Kylo’s hair, their foreheads touching. They truly couldn’t keep their hands off one another, if someone had been around, Hux might have been embarassed.

“I can’t help it. I’m so in love with you, how could I be anything but?” Kylo grinned up at him, that goofy smile returning yet again. Desire began to pool in Hux’s stomach, and he leaned down to lick into Kylo’s mouth.

“I want you take me out of here, back to our room.” He whispered against Kylo’s lips.

“Are you sure?” Kylo asked, swallowing dryly. Hux nodded, let his eyes slip closed and rubbed a palm down the front of Kylo’s trousers. He was pleased to find Kylo already growing hard at the prospect.

“I want you to ravish me.” Hux tilted his head back, giving Kylo access to his throat. He immediately went in to his favorite spot and laved kisses over the slowly heating skin. “I’ve forgotten what your hands feel like on my skin.”

“I’ll never let you forget again.” Kylo vowed, standing to blow out all the candles that cast a beautiful golden glow around the room. When the smell of fine smoke filled the air, he returned to Hux, wrapping one arm around his shoulders and hooking the other under his knees, standing and carrying him out of the room.

Thankfully, it was late enough that there was no one around to scold Hux for being out of bed, or Kylo for helping him escape to the comfort of their own room. Instead, there was only the quiet creaking of the ship, the soft swish of canvas sails high in the night sky. Hux looked up at the stars and thanked them paying special attention to one that shone the brightest out of them all, for letting him live, and for letting his enemies die. He would make her faith in him worth it.

“I always thought that star was my mother,” Hux said, pointing to Deneb, one of the stars in the Cygnus constellation. “Whenever I feel too lost, I look up and see her there, watching over me.”

“What happened to her?” Kylo asked as he carried Hux across the ship, slowly as to not let his footfalls be heard by those in the decks below.

“The Spanish.” Hux said with a curl of his lip. He shook his head though and the smile returned. “That story is for another time, I was just thanking her for giving me the strength to pull through.”

“I’m so very glad that you did.” Kylo kissed the top of Hux’s head, and Hux laughed.

“I’ll bet!” He said, twisting in Kylo’s grip to loop his arms around his neck. “Take me to bed, Captain Ren.” Hux whispered in his best seductive tone.

Kylo wasted no more time in getting them to their room. Nothing had changed from when Hux saw it last, another small mercy the universe had given him. Hux was softly laid down on the sheets, and one by one, Kylo removed their layers. Hux hadn’t been wearing much, just a gauzy linen shirt and loose trousers, but Kylo was still in his full captain’s garb.

Hux drank in Kylo’s strong frame as he peeled himself out of his coat, his waistcoat, the same sort of linen shirt as Hux, and of course his trousers.

“Just, just give me a moment.” Hux said as Kylo began to move towards the bed. “I just want to look at you.” He said shyly.

Kylo straightened his posture up and let Hux look, let him drink up that massive chest and the ridges of his abs, the way his waist tapered down to a beautiful V right above his cock. Even Kylo’s thighs held power, and Hux couldn’t wait until that was directed towards him.

“Okay, come here.” Hux said finally, when Kylo was getting antsy.

Kylo slid into bed to join Hux, and pulled the covers up over their heads. The light from the candles shone through the silken sheets, creating a dream-like bubble that only the two of them existed in. They kissed, tongues sliding against one another, hot and wet. They sucked lips into each other’s mouths, biting and bruising at the corners and seams where they knew would puff up beautifully.

Kylo trailed a gentle hand across Hux’s throat and down to his chest, rubbing at one of Hux’s small nipples until it hardened, bending down to take the nub between his teeth and sucking, pulling his head up, Hux’s back arching to follow the movement. He moved on to the other one, Hux closing his eyes to the sensation.

“Let me make you feel good.” Kylo pressed the words into Hux’s skin, and it was all Hux could do not to shout out just how good he wanted Kylo to make him feel.

“Please, _please_.” Hux said, one hand clutching at Kylo’s hair as he licked further down Hux’s body, the other hand thrown over his head, fist twisted in the sheets.

Kylo buried his nose in the soft golden hairs that trailed down Hux’s stomach, lifting one hand to pluck at them with soft reference. He pressed a hot, open mouthed kiss to Hux’s hip, before licking a stripe up the underside of Hux’s now very hard cock.

Hux let out a loud moan when Kylo sucked at his tip, and and even louder whine when he pulled away. Kylo’s eyes sparkled up at him, not looking away as he sucked all of Hux’s cock down his throat. Without thinking, Hux pressed his hips up, seeking more friction.

“Kylo, please.” Hux asked, not even fully knowing what he was asking for.

Kylo let his eyes close as he swallowed around Hux’s hot length, bobbing his head up and down to set a rhythm that would have Hux undone in no time. Hux didn’t want to come from head, he wanted to get fucked, properly.

“Take me, come on, take me.” Hux begged, lifting his hips invitingly.

“Impatient.” Kylo grinned, as he popped off Hux’s cock with a wet smack.

Stretching out, Hux wrapped a leg around Kylo’s waist, watching as Kylo rummaged through the bedside table for that vial of oil that made Hux weak in the knees. He eyes Kylo’s cock hungrily, and began moving his hips in little circles out of eagerness. Kylo slicked up his fingers, and circled Hux’s waiting hole before sliding the first finger in. It hadn’t been _so_ long that Hux didn’t know what to expect, but it still caught him off guard at how good it felt, and there was so much yet for them in the evening.

One finger became two, and the more Hux relaxed and fell into the sensations, the easier it was for Kylo to slide another in, three fingers spreading Hux’s muscles apart, getting them loose enough to accommodate Kylo’s cock, hanging thick and heavy and _dripping_ onto the sheets. Hux wanted to lick it, but he was pinned by Kylo’s gaze, those lidded eyes of his boring into his very soul.

“Almost there,” Kylo soothed, wetly licking Hux’s mouth. “One more, you can take it.”

“I can take it.” Hux agreed, reaching up to press kisses to Kylo’s neck, the taught muscles underneath tanned skin quivering as he slowly started to bead up with sweat.

Kylo added the fourth finger, and Hux spread his legs ever wider, back bowed up in an arc clean off the bed to get as close to Kylo as he possibly could. Kylo waited until Hux’s body was pliant enough to get all four fingers in an out with ease, nothing but the sound of their harsh breathing and drawn out moans, before he pulled his hand away. Hux’s hips chased the feeling, and his eyes nearly glazed over as he watched Kylo liberally apply the oil to his dick, giving it a few strokes to relieve the pressure that had been building up. Hux licked his lips hungrily, and stretched both his arms over his head, careful not to pop his stitches.

“Ready?” Kylo asked, sounding winded.

“Fuck me.” Hux nodded in answer, “As hard as you can.”

Kylo took that to heart, and after lining up his cock, pushed in steadily until he bottomed out in one long thrust. Hux gasped out loud as Kylo rubbed against his prostate, arching clean off the bed and nearly colliding with Kylo’s chest. Hux bit into one of his pecs, one of those huge tits that Hux loved to bruise and mark up, muffling his cries as Kylo pulled back and thrust back in, a steady rhythm that had Hux literally drooling all over himself.

Hux could tell Kylo wanted to close his eyes, wanted to let them roll back as he chased his pleasure deeper and deeper into Hux’s body, but Kylo refused to look anywhere other than directly down at Hux, and he couldn’t help but feel cherished. The bullshit could come later, the hashing out of what was the truth and what were lies, but Hux knew this was real, had always been real, so he moaned high and long as Kylo sped his hips.

The sound of sweating skin slapping against skin was loud in the room, and Kylo shifted his weight so he could bury himself deeper inside Hux. Hux, for his part, kept having the breath knocked out of them as he hung on to Kylo’s body and went along for the ride. If he had been in better physical condition, he would have loved to flip Kylo on his back, to bounce on his cock like the slut for it that he was, but he didn’t know if his body would be able to handle that.

Instead, he twisted this way and that, lifting his hips and locking them around Kylo’s waist, moving them up to his shoulders. Hux had always been flexible, and Kylo used that to his advantage, pressing Hux’s legs up and putting his knees up to his chest. Each shift had them both panting into one another’s mouths, the exchange of used breath making Hux’s head swim.

Kylo was so eager that he accidentally slipped out once, miscalculating how far he had pulled back and leaving Hux entirely empty. Hux whined, pulling Kylo closer again, and the two of them laughed as Kylo tried to get himself collected enough to press back into the tight wet heat of Hux’s body. It was hard and fast, but it was also carefree, with Kylo bestowing kisses to Hux’s inner thighs, and Hux tugging on Kylo’s ears to bring their lips together.

“Don’t stop,” Hux begged, “I’m getting close.” His voice bobbed with each forceful thrust of Kylo’s hips.

“Never baby, never.” A drop of sweat flung from the tip of Kylo’s nose onto Hux’s mouth, and Hux licked it away, almost wishing it were a different sort of salt.

Kylo lifted both of Hux’s legs and pulled Hux further down the bed to get deeper still. Hux felt so full, he felt like he was going to explode into a thousand pieces, and they’d have to stitch him back up again. Kylo couldn’t stop moaning, he was sure to wake up the entire ship, but Hux didn’t give a shit, not when he was finally getting fucked the way he had been missing for over a week.

“F-fuck, baby, I don’t think I can hold out much longer.” Kylo sounded so sad, but Hux was glad for it, he was right on the edge of orgasm and if Kylo didn’t follow him over that cliff, Hux was afraid for how sore he would be come morning time.

“Make me come, I know you can.” Hux demanded, his hands never leaving Kylo’s skin.

Still pistoning his hips, Kylo shifted his weight to free up a hand and slipped it between their bodies, wrapping it around Hux’s bright red cock. Kylo’s hips slowed to an erratic stop as Hux clenched around him, the both of them coming at exactly the same time. Hux could feel Kylo’s thighs clenching as he pumped Hux full of as much of his hot come as he could, and Hux’s eyes sprang tears from the sensation.

Kylo collapsed onto Hux’s side, careful to make sure it wasn’t the side with the stitches, and traced patterns into the come-covered skin of Hux’s hips. He scooped it all up with his fingers and licked them clean, not wanting Hux to fall asleep sticky. Hux’s heart was so full of love that he didn’t bother chastising Kylo for the hygiene.

“I’ve missed sleeping in this bed.” Hux sighed dreamily, eyes already slipping closed.

“You’ll never sleep anywhere as long as you wish.” Kylo vowed, blowing out the candles and tucking Hux against his chest.

For once in his life, Hux felt completely at peace. No thoughts of Organa or Snoke, or even Kylo’s betrayal floating around in his mind. No, there was only warmth, and joy, and the twinkling of stars to fill his head, and the deep rumble of Kylo humming their song.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so so so much for reading! If you've made it to this point, you mean the world to me! I know this chapter was long and a roller coaster of emotions, but I hope that it was one you all enjoyed! Because there is so much in here, I'm going to try and make these pirate facts short, but we all know me, I'm not very good at knowing how long is too long xD
> 
> -In history, there weren't actually real Pirate Kings, in the sense that there was one captain that ruled over the other captains. That was a story that was designed by the writers of at PotC, and i just thought it was too good not to include in here! There were some ruthless captains of course, but they only ruled over their own ship, not every pirate ship on the seas.  
> -Cannibalism as a means of survival for men left shipwrecked was indeed a real thing, and was has horrible and gritty as you could imagine. Being on a lifeboat for a week in the middle of the ocean almost always meant death, as human beings can only go three days without any sort of water. Of course there are ways to get water through various bodily fluids, but even that only extends your survival for another day or two at most. For the sake of the story, we'll say there was some miracle of rain or something along those lines to let the boys survive.  
> -Typically on a pirate ship, you had people to load the guns, and then people to position and fire the guns. Sometimes these weren't the same people, as moving cannons took much more strength than plopping in a cannon ball did, so for Hux to have killed off all the big burly pirates who knew how to work the guns, really was just a cruel twist of fate. I wonder if we'll ever learn how Thanisson managed to get all those cannons placed and fired in time?  
> -The brig of a ship was not a place you wanted to be. Typically there would be two or three long cells that lined the walls, where dozens of prisoners would be crammed in together sardine style. Of course if you were a prisoner, that meant you got the last scraps of food -- if any -- and any business you had to relieve yourself of was done in communal chamber pots -- if you were lucky. Thankfully (and then unluckily) for Hux, Organa had used her brig as a means of storage, instead of storing prisoners she stored cannonballs.  
> -The Spanish did indeed wear black a lot of the time, not for any edgy reason other than the fact that they were almost constantly in mourning. There were many battles being fought between the infantry and the armada, not to mention illness from colonizing all over.  
> -Opium was morphine's predecessor for main painkiller up until the invention of the hypodermic syringe needle in 1853.  
> -There were many a number of court dances that came out of Louis XIV's palace in the 18th century, my favorite happen to be much more complicated dances that trying to write about wouldn't have been efficient lol. Please do give it a quick google if you're interested in learning more about the Minuet, it's a super fun one if the tempo is fast! 
> 
> WELL, i think that does it for this chapter's edition of Pirate Facts!! If you want to chat with me about anything, feel free to find me over on tumblr @cowboykylux ! Hope to see you all in the next chapter!! xxxx


	7. Healing Wounds of Heart and Soul

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahoy! Here is the much anticipated conclusion for this incredibly wonderful fic that I have had the pleasure of writing! I hope that you all enjoy it as much as i did writing it, and thank you all so much for going on this journey with me.  
> (For those not wanting to read NSFW, the content begins with "...consummate their union before the emotional toll would be taken on his body in its current state." and ends with "...not able to fully sit up for his body had turned to jelly." 
> 
> ((un-beta'd, all mistakes are my own!!))

Hux woke with a groan, what little painkillers he had been given finally having worn away during the night. The sun wasn’t up yet, not really, shadows just barely soft enough to wrap around the room but not yet stretching harshly across the walls. He felt like shit, but also like a boulder had been lifted off of his chest. It was done – in essence, the Spanish had fallen. Centuries of back and forth and finally, _finally,_ he had put the Navy ahead. If only his father could see him now, he thought, as he blinked morning spots from his eyes.

Kylo was snoring gently next to him, the rise and fall of his side a steady rhythm that Hux matched his own breath to. They would have to talk, eventually. They’d have to hash out all sorts of personality clashes and sort through the lies. Hux had so many questions that demanded answers, had been so hurt for so long, he wanted retribution. He was not one to let things go lightly.

Still, there was a void in his chest that had been filled when he saw Kylo’s face, something deep and dark stitched closed, a breath he had been holding finally released. And in the pale light of not-quite-morning, his eyes roamed freely over the vast expanse of Kylo’s back, scarred and torn in some places, dotted with moles in others. He turned and pressed himself against that warm back, his own skin grossly sweaty from the healing process, and tried to get as close as possible to him. Yes, he was angry, but more than that, he was relieved.

“...Hux?” Kylo’s tired voice asked, words slightly slurred. The sound made Hux smile, and it only grew as Kylo turned around in bed and lifted an arm, Hux shuffling dutifully underneath it.

“Good morning.” Hux pressed a chaste kiss to Kylo’s chin, earning him a lazy smile in return.

“It is good, isn’t it?” Kylo’s teeth gleamed, Hux wanted to lick them. Controlling himself, and with a more rational mind, remembering his stitches, he shifted his gaze to the windows, the sky turning a pale powder blue that promised a glorious sunrise.

Hux just hummed in response, and kissed Kylo again, this time on the mouth. His tooth clinked with the contact of one of Kylo’s and for a moment he felt silly for being confused, he had forgotten that he had a golden one of his own. They licked into each other’s mouths, the sky growing lighter and lighter with each passing moment, the ship creaking and groaning but still mostly silent.

“How long do you think we have before the doctor realizes I’ve escaped?” Hux whispered against Kylo’s skin, not wanting to break the reverie.

“An hour?” Kylo waggled his eyebrows, no doubt thinking of some filthy way they could spend the time, but Hux had other ideas. The filth could come later.

“Excellent, come with me.” Hux slipped out of the bed, hand catching on Kylo’s wrist as he tugged his captain with all his might. The expression on Kylo’s face was enough to make Hux breathlessly laugh, but his efforts didn’t stop.

“No – Hux, can’t we just stay in bed?” Kylo groaned, not wanting to leave the warmth and comfort of the plush mattress.

“We can spend all day in bed.” Hux tugged once more, eyeing the window anxiously. “For now, I’d like to watch the sun rise.” He tried giving his best I Am in Charge Here look, and Kylo just huffed out a laugh and finally sat up.

“You and the sun.” He shook his head fondly, “My _Starkiller_.”

“This is one star I’d like to keep, I think.” Hux mused, tugging once more on Kylo’s arm.

“Okay, okay, let me throw on some clothes.” Kylo playfully grumbled, picking up a fresh pair of trousers and a crisp linen shirt from the wardrobe. He handed Hux a similar outfit, but instead of stark white Hux’s shirt was a lovely emerald green color that did wonders for his hair.

Barefoot, they padded out from the room into the crisp dawn. This was always something Hux had loved about ships, the way salty dew clung to the wood, the gentle glow of the night lantern faintly flickering through the fog. The ocean seemed so big and so small at the same time, with no one bustling about to wake her. There was the familiar creaking of the hull back and forth as it rocked along with the tide, the sway of yards up off the mast.

“Please tell me we’re not going to climb.” Kylo sighed, eyeing the nets that spiraled their way up the very mast Hux was considering.

“No, I don’t want to aggravate this thing more than we’ve already done.” Hux shook his head, playfully nudging his shoulder against Kylo’s. Kylo only smiled, head hanging low with a beautiful blush across his cheeks that rivaled the blossoming pink the sky.

“Don’t blame me, you’re impossible to resist.” Kylo leaned in to nip Hux’s earlobe, nuzzling against his neck like one over-affectionate cat.

“Yes, I do recall you calling me a siren once.” Hux teased, finally coming to a rest in front of the forecastle.

The two of them sat up there and leaned against one another, Kylo wrapping his arm around Hux’s shoulder, carefully tucking him against his side. The sun was finally starting to peek over the horizon, an angry orange ball in the sky that called the sea awake with it. Gulls flocked in front of the sun, black silhouettes lined in a fiery gold. Hux sat forward enough to rest his forearms on his knees, and soaked the warmth of the sun on his skin.

“That seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it?” Kylo said softly, watching with rapt attention how the sun lined Hux in a ring of gold, a truly ethereal king fit to rule the seven seas.

“A long time ago and yesterday, somehow.” Hux sighed, wondering how his life could have ever turned out like this. “Do you ever think it’s strange? How two people who by all accounts should hate one another, wound up together like this?”

Kylo scooted closer to Hux, pressed a kiss on an especially favorite freckle of his, and took one of Hux’s hands in his own. Hux pushed the pain away, not wanting to let it spoil this moment. He would forever remember it as the first true moment of peace that they would share. Nothing hanging over them but the swirling expanse of the sky, wisps of cotton candy clouds.

“I think you have a preposterous streak of luck!” Kylo laughed loudly enough that Hux had to clamp a hand over his mouth and shoot him an angry glare. Kylo just kissed the palm against his lips and gave an apologetic quirk of his eyebrow. “How many times should you have died in the span of me knowing you?” He asked, softly this time.

“I’ll have you know, me having met you hasn’t put me in any more danger than if we had never had our encounter.” Hux sniffed, turning back to watch the sun rise. It was slowly making its way across the horizon now, and neither Hux nor Kylo ever wanted to move.

“You’ll never come to harm again, not by my hands nor any others. As long as I live you’ll worry on nothing, want for nothing. By the sea I swear it.” Kylo turned Hux’s cheek to face him, passion burning behind his eyes. After all this time, Hux was still not used to being the recipient of such affection.

“I thought I agreed to marry a pirate, not a poet.” Hux blushed, rubbing his thumb over the gold still looped through his ear. The first solid thing Kylo gave him, that he got specially for him, he had never taken it out.

“I’m a package deal.” Kylo smirked, making Hux snort, his own turn to cover his mouth as to not be heard.

“Isn’t _that_ the truth!” Hux hissed through his laughter, eventually stretching out to lay down, the sun ever so surely making its ascent into the rapidly changing sky. It was now a beautiful orange the color of peaches, peaches and cream.

“Why do you like it so much, by the way? Climbing all the way up to the top of the masts?” Kylo asked suddenly, like he just realized a very important thought and blurted it out before his brain could catch up.

“My mother taught me how to climb. Only, back when she was alive, we climbed trees and mountains, not nets.” Hux smiled sadly, eyes closed against the brilliance of the sun reflecting against the water.

The crew would soon wake, they both knew this but made no efforts to sit up. Just the two of them for a little while longer was all they could ask for, before Hux was swiftly carried away back to the med ward, and they would have to face the reality of what they wanted to do next.

“When she died, I thought, if I could only get up there to reach her, it would be like she was there again.” Hux said, thinking back to the night before, where he pointed his mother’s star out. She always shined the brightest, he thought.

“What happened to her, your mother?” Kylo whispered, fingers twining with Hux’s own.

“The short answer is the Spanish burned down our home and shot up everyone who was inside.” Hux sighed, eyes fluttering open. The sunlight reflecting in them made them shine greener than all the emeralds in the largest treasure trove. “She was a simple kitchen woman, all she wanted was for me to have a better life, so she moved us to London. Biggest mistake she ever made.” He sneered, still resentful all these years.

“How old were you when you came?” Kylo asked, to keep Hux talking so he wouldn’t recede into a hollow shell of a man, but also to learn more about him. He wanted to learn everything about him.

“I was seven. My father knew about me but had never expressed affection, never wrote to me or sent me wishes on my birthday.” Hux chuckled dryly. Kylo made a mental note to find out when Hux’s birthday was and to arrange for the largest bouquet of flowers to be sent.

“He was livid when my mother showed up in town, and had me snatched away from her, only able to see her once a week if I was good. The rest of my time was spent on ships, or in the Academy.” He continued, looking like an angel in the lining of the sun. Short hairs of stubble that needed to be shaved away caught in the light, and Kylo found himself entranced.

“Where were you when the Spanish came?” Kylo asked with a frown, the wheels in his head trying to piece the events together.

“I was in my room.” Hux said matter of factly. Kylo bolted upright, and blocked the sun from reaching Hux’s face by crowding in front of him.

“But – then you were – ” Kylo stammered, until Hux lifted his shirt just enough for Kylo to see a gnarled mass of tissue on his side, matching one that he himself had.

“Shot. Yes.” Hux said, shrugging one shoulder. It wasn’t the first time Kylo had seen the scar, not by any means, but he had thought it was something acquired along Hux’s journey commandeering warships, not as a child, crying in his room for a mother who would never answer him.

“I didn’t know that scar was that old.” Was all Kylo could say, afraid of sounding like a dick, very aware of the blood running through his veins.

“I’ve been notorious for cheating death long before meeting you, Kylo Ren.” Hux smiled, clearly not mad at him. Not yet, anyway. That would probably come later, they both knew.

“So it seems.” Kylo returned the smile, grateful for this one moment together. “There are so many stories carved into your skin, I wonder if I will ever learn them all.”

“We can trade, you have far more than me.” Hux rolled over onto his side, careful as always of the stitches. God how he hated stitches, all he wanted to do was curl against Kylo’s chest, but doing so would pull them in a way that made Hux itch when he thought about it.

“I have to say, you’re the only person who has gone this long without asking about my eye.” Kylo finally cracked, making Hux look up at him with his head cocked.

“I don’t think about it much, only when it’s looking especially beautiful.” Hux admitted, his eyes clear with truth. Kylo wanted to burst into tears then and there, but figured he had shed enough over the course of the past few hours, and kept it all in.

“Talking about it isn’t off limits, my silence was only to prevent you from feeling uncomfortable.” Kylo lowered his voice even further. Hux was determined though, and would not be shaken, not after sharing something buried so deeply inside the vulnerable part of his chest that he had kept guarded for so long.

“There is very little that makes me uncomfortable, Kylo.” Hux assured him, placing the other hand, the one not laced with Kylo’s own, on the scarred flesh of his cheek. “But I am curious.”

“My sister gave it to me – Rey. Cut my face nearly in half the day I killed my father.” He sighed, head thumping against the wooden floor beneath them. Hux was proud of the crew, the deck was damn near spotless.

“I take it she was very angry.” Hux mused, trying to give Kylo some means of opening up. They were not men who shared things with others, that much was true, but they had found something in each other that might give them a path.

“Hurt more than anything else. Shocked and hurt. Part of me wants to say I would have done the same thing were the roles reversed, but damn, my father was a real bastard.” Kylo laughed, and Hux laughed with him.

They laughed and laughed until the sun was high enough in the sky that the world above them turned blue, the last swirls of pink and orange fading away. There was activity now, had been for a while, bustling below deck. Soon the Bosun’s Mates would make their way up and unfurl the sails, pulling the blocks and letting the canvases catch the wind. They still had a few moments left to their own, and Hux’s laugh trailed off until he was simply chuckling, with the occasional cough.

“I’m itching to sail back to England and rid the world of my own.” He hummed, possibly still high off the kill of Organa, of having one of his biggest problems finally removed from his life. If only he could keep up the momentum and be two-for-two.

“We could, if you wanted to. We have no set destination, we could go right back to Europe and cause some true mayhem.” Kylo smiled, gold teeth catching in the sun. Hux leaned in and kissed him, running his tongue over the bottom row. It had somehow become a measure of comfort for him, grounding him.

“Not yet.” Hux sighed, knowing he needed time to heal. “I want him to know I’m coming for him. I want him to hear the rumors of the naval officer back from the dead, the pirate admiral.”

“I can do you one better,” Kylo stood, extending a hand to Hux and gently pulling him to his feet. “Let him hear stories about the pirate _king_.” He grinned, letting Hux wind his arms around his neck and pull them down to a kiss.

“You spoil me.” Hux whispered against Kylo’s lips, pleased as punch.

“Captain Hux!” A gruff voice snapped them out of their romantic moment, and they turned sharply towards the sound. The doctor had finally found them out, and Hux ducked behind Kylo like they were children hiding from a teacher.

“Shit, we’ve been spotted!” Hux hissed, but Kylo just laughed.

“Come with me!” He kept his grip on Hux’s hand and they sprinted down the ladder from the forecastle down into the main deck, and even further down the rabbit hole until they settled in the orlop.

 

Hux had only been down to the orlop of the _Silencer_ once, on his initial rounds on the ship that first few days so long ago. The light filtering in through the portholes made the wooden hall an eerie green, fish swimming by that were probably larger than Hux was tall. They must have drifted far out into the Atlantic by now, in all the time Hux was asleep.

“How long do you think we can hide down here?” Hux laughed, breathless from the chase.

“As long as we want.” Kylo grinned, pulling Hux in close, the water casting streams of light that danced upon Hux’s skin.

“Oh?” He asked, an eyebrow raised.

“We’re the captains.” Kylo replied easily, leaning down to kiss his lover over and over again, all the while Hux still slightly hysterical.

“The two of us, huh?” He mused, bright spots of color on his cheeks, a mixture of adrenaline and excitement.

“There was, uh, a bit of an episode after you left.” Kylo admitted, rubbing one of his hands across the back of his neck.

Hux stepped away and crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes. He looked so deadly in that moment, he knew he did, and Kylo only grinned at the reaction, proud of Hux’s ability to never back down, even when wounded, even when sick.

“What does that mean?” Hux asked, eyes calculating, visibly thinking.

“I mean the men damn near threw me overboard for letting you walk. I should have never let you go.” Kylo hung his head again, ashamed.

Hux put a hand on Kylo’s shoulder and pushed, Kylo getting the hint and sliding down the wall to sit comfortably on the floor. Hux went down with him, sitting on his lap and threading his hands through Kylo’s hair. They kissed lazily for a few moments, letting the green light of the ocean wash over them.

“I would have shot you.” Hux reminded him, making Kylo give a breathy laugh mostly through his nose.

“Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been shot at.” He replied, repeating Phasma’s words from what felt like eons ago. He would have to send her a message that everything was alright, and soon.

“You’re ridiculous.” Hux huffed, but drew closer to him, resting his cheek against Kylo’s shoulder.

Kylo’s broad frame was another thing that had somehow become comforting for Hux; those wide shoulders and huge arms, strong enough to snap a mast in half, or to unwind the planks of a barrel. There was raw power there, in his core, which he could use to throw grown men across the room, or off the plank, but instead he chose to cradle Hux close. It was truly a mystery to Hux, and he felt that this was one mystery he wouldn’t mind leaving unsolved.

“You’re marrying me.” Kylo reminded him, in a sing-song voice that hid real doubt.

Kylo had been afraid that during the night, somehow, Hux might have forgotten. Or changed his mind, or any number of things. He had been terrified that Hux would wake and laugh at him, at the sheer possibility of them being bound in holy matrimony. Hux could tell, and he just pressed himself closer in response.

“Yes, I am, aren’t I?” Hux said softly, a smile blooming on his face. He had never expected anyone to want him half as much as Kylo did, it was a dizzying sensation.

“Whenever you’re ready, I want to make it the happiest day of our lives.” Kylo was determined, and it made Hux’s heart bloom.

He shifted Hux’s weight just enough to pull something out of his pocket. It was golden and smooth on the outside, the only embellishment aside from the wear and tear of obviously being very old was a single diamond. The diamond was cut beautifully, adorned with only a few scratches from being handled for so long. Kylo nervously cleared his throat and held a hand out, which Hux immediately filled with his own. He could feel the nervous jitters in Kylo’s fingers as they trembled, placing the ring in the center of Hux’s palm. On the inside, he could see an inscription, nearly worn away.

_AMOR VINCIT OMNIA_

“It’s a little over a hundred years old.” Kylo said by way of an apology for the condition of the band. It was a posy ring, a piece of jewelry that had caught on some time ago for being overly flowery and romantic. Hux thought it was perfect coming from Kylo, and bit his lip to keep from babbling something overtly romantic himself.

Hux’s breath caught in his throat as he nodded instead, breathless. He offered the ring back, and then immediately gave Kylo his left hand, now shaking as badly as Kylo’s own. Kylo grinned and easily slid the ring on, somehow a perfect fit. Hux surged forward and pressed himself as close to Kylo as he could, holding on for dear life as they kissed.

He imagined a small ceremony, just the crew, maybe a few others like Phasma if she were able to come aboard. He wanted it done on the ship, the two of them standing before their men on the quarter deck as they read their vows. Hux would wear white, and Kylo would wear black, and they’d kiss and kiss until the sun set far behind them. The ocean would be calm, a crystalline blue that would listen to the sweet words exchanged, and that would glitter with applause as they kissed one another.

“Mitaka can officiate.” Hux dreamily said, pulling away from Kylo just the barest hint. Kylo pulled him back immediately, a playful glint to his eye that Hux couldn’t shy away from.

“He’s ordained?” Kylo asked, frowning in confusion slightly.

“I was surprised too. He’s capable.” Hux nodded, shrugging.

“Sure.” Kylo said through a clenched jaw and Hux rolled his eyes. He tugged on Kylo’s ear to make him look at him, and raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, don’t you go getting jealous on me now.” Hux ordered, fondness surging through him. Kylo for his part didn’t listen, and Hux could feel the erratic straining of Kylo’s tight fists against the fabric of his shirt.

“I can’t help it. Who on this ship doesn’t want you?” Kylo sighed, tipping his head back to lean against the wall. He wouldn’t make eye contact with Hux, still unsure of his worth. After all that he had done to Hux, had put him through, how could Hux possibly want to be stuck with him?

“Luckily for you, I’ve only got eyes for a certain captain.” Hux whispered, placing a kiss to the corner of Kylo’s downturned mouth, coaxing the stress away from the muscles in his face.

Hux’s thought from earlier returned, that they would have to have a serious talk sometime soon. He didn’t want to have it now; didn’t want to disturb the calm of the sea they had fought so hard to obtain. But it seemed that Kylo needed it just as much as Hux did, needed to open up the chest they kept under lock and key that resided in the blackest parts of both of them, having to scrape through the barnacles before they could unsheathe the gold.

Kylo gave in, kissing Hux back shyly, very much unlike his usual passionate self, and Hux was about to tell him to go wild as he normally did when the ceiling hatch to their small section of the orlop banged open with more force than necessary.

“Okay men, now that’s enough!” The poor doctor panted, clearly out of breath from his search for them all around the ship. “Captain Hux, I apologize, but for the sake of your health I must insist you return to the med ward.”

Hux sighed, the doctor was not a man to be trifled with, not one that controlled how fast his healing process went. Still, it was amusing to have such a short and portly man give him orders about his health, when he could be found smoking two pipes of tobacco a day.

“Doctor, is there any way I can spend breakfast in the mess with the crew? I feel it would be good for morale for the men to see their captains together and thriving.” Hux tried, turning on the charm that had gotten him through the Academy mostly unscathed.

“You are not thriving, Captain Hux. You have been stabbed in the stomach.” Doc said, pointing an accusatory finger at the side where sutures were beginning to loosen. “I have been unconventional enough with you, Captain. You’re lucky I haven’t let you bleed out!”

“Just for an hour or two?” Hux clasped his hands together, knowing full well how much he was pushing his luck.

“If you get an infection and die, don’t you dare blame me.” Doc narrowed his eyes, adjusting the sleeves on his coat. He huffed and snapped his medical bag closed, before turning sharply on his heel and climbed the ladder up, muttering about _ungrateful pirates_ all the way.

“Of course not, doctor.” Hux called once he was sure the man wouldn’t come running back down, and he and Kylo dissolved into raucous laughter.

 

* * *

 

“Are you ready?” Kylo asked once they approached the door to the mess hall.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” Hux replied, brows drawn in confusion. Kylo just chuckled and shook his head before pressing a hand onto the wood and pushing it open.

“They’ve missed you.” Was all the reply he got before he was absolutely swarmed.

They had stepped into the room for all of ten seconds before the first man noticed them. What had once been the bustling activity of a hundred men clamoring over one another to get breakfast, clinking mugs in morning cheers, or the hearty laughter as the string of a fiddle broke, halted to a screeching silence.

“Captain Hux!” A voice called, belonging to the young Goji. Without thinking, the powder monkey bolted across the mess hall, literally climbing over the table in his dirty boots to reach where he and Kylo were standing.

Goji wrapped his arms around Hux’s hips, not quite tall enough yet to get any higher. Stunned, Hux allowed himself to split into a slow smile, and crouched down to hoist Goji up into his arms, settling the boy against his hip.

“Good morning lad.” Hux gave him a happy grin, and Goji’s eyes widened when he saw the gold.

“It’s jus’ like Cap’n Ren’s!” He exclaimed, pressing his finger against Hux’s tooth. Hux playfully bit the finger, making Goji draw back with a peal of laughter. Hux turned to Kylo, who was having a hard time containing his happiness, Hux was good with children, who the hell would have thought?

The rest of the crew finally recovered from their shock, and were all fighting to get front and center of Hux’s attention.

“Bless me beard, it’s good ta see yer face Admiral.” Hornsby removed his woolen cap in respect, and Hux put Goji down to pull the familiar face into a hug.

“I didn’t get one wink of sleep sir, Captain Hux sir! I did nothin’ but ‘ope that you would come out of this mess alright.” Goji piped up, jumping up and down. His dark hair flopped into his even darker eyes with the excitement and Hux knew he had to calm him down before he overscited himself and wound up stepping on the toes of someone like Bradshaw who was looking suspiciously like he might cry.

“Don’t you worry yourself about me, I’m stronger than I look.” Hux ruffled Goji’s hair, making him beam.

“Of course ye are! Nothing can beat our Starkiller.” Bradshaw stepped up, placing a weathered hand on Hux’s shoulder, drawing out the _r_ in Starkiller for emphasis.

“Three cheers for Starkiller!” Stuart held his mug high with his good hand, and the crew immediately folled suit.

“Hip hip, hooray!” They all cheered, “Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray!”

They sloshed their rum and ale all over the table with their enthusiasm, spraying foam onto the floor and running down their shirts. Hux was hit by the spray numerous times, until his own shirt was practically soaked with the alcohol.

“All right, all right, that’s enough.” Kylo finally stepped in, standing behind Hux and looping his arms around Hux’s shoulder. Hux instinctively took one of Kylo’s hands into his own, their fingers automatically lacing together, like they belonged nowhere else on this earth.

“I must admit, I’ve missed the dramatics aboard the _Silencer_.” Hux said truthfully. Maul’s ship had been okay, but this was his _home_.

“Wouldn’t be right if we all sat ‘round bein’ ordinary.” Bradshaw’s eyes sparkled with mirth and Hux had to nod in agreement.

The door to the kitchens opened then, but the familiar sound of a wooden leg wasn’t heard by Hux, or anyone in the mess hall for that matter. No, instead there was the thump of a silver leg, beautifully engraved and expertly crafted, heavy against the planks. Hux’s back straightened and he schooled his features into something more neutral, as the grizzled cook himself made his way to where Hux was standing. In his good hand was a silver tray of breakfast that must have taken absurd amounts of time to prepare, what with the limited resources aboard the ship.

“Sir.” Grievous cleared his throat, for once not using the title mockingly.

“Hello Grievous. Miss me?” Hux tipped his chin up, trying to look as dignified as possible with Kylo still pressed against his back.

“As a matter o’ fact, yes.” The cook admitted, looking like he was in great pain as he did so. Hux couldn’t help but smile, feeling like he had finally been accepted by every member of the crew. “Cooked ye up somethin’ special, I’d be honored if ya’d sit and enjoy it.” Grievous held the tray out for Hux to take, and he did so with careful hands, not wanting to spill anything.

“Thank you, I will.” Hux replied sincerely, making the old man blush deeper than Hux could have ever thought possible.

With that, he turned, and walked back into the kitchen, all eyes on him. The moment the door to the kitchen closed, Kylo pressed kisses all over Hux’s cheek, thrilled that his crew was wholly and undividedly happy to see Hux back aboard.

Hux took his first real step into the mess hall and the men parted like the red sea, allowing him a clear path to walk to a table. Everyone went back to their regular seats, and the normal chatter of the morning resumed, everyone talking about the return of their co-commander. Hux almost didn’t want to dig into the meal that Grievous prepared for him, as aesthetically beautiful as it was.

He had never literally eaten off a silver platter before, his humble meals with the navy on porcelain dinner plates like the rest of his crew. There were three tea cups, one filled with coffee, one with tea, and a third with hot chocolate, a true delicacy as chocolate melted during the summer months and would have likely caused a disaster of a mess to store. A selection of freshly baked muffins and rolls were lined up next to small tins of butter and jams – it truly was the nicest breakfast Hux had had in a long time. He felt a pang of guilt when he saw the others scoop up their too-hot porridge.

“So tell me,” Hux said after taking a refreshing swig of the coffee. It was black, not lessened by cream or sugar, exactly to his liking. He could almost feel the caffeine pump through his heart as he swallowed. “What happened in my absence?”

“Well, as far as we all knew, Captain Ren made a terrible mistake and we needed to leave.” Swett shrugged. He seemed to not get much in the way of news, Hux thought.

“Aye, I’d never seen him so upset in all me years. Showed up alone, covered in blood, with ‘is Master’s head in a basket he did.” Milton spoke animatedly, waving his spoon about and flicking bits of porridge all over the table. He gave an apologetic smile and wiped it away with his sleeve, making Hux wince.

“Pray tell what’s this I hear about a mutiny?” Hux asked, curious to hear the story from those who had most likely started it.

“Oh, sir, no sir, nothin’ like that. We just didn’t know what was going on at first. I said ‘not without the Admiral.’ That’s what I said.” Swett quickly corrected him, not wanting to make it sound like he would willingly harm their beloved master.

“Aye! And once Swett spoke up, I realized that you weren’t on board, so I o’course agreed, as did the rest of us.” Bradshaw nodded proudly, getting a chorous of ‘ _yeah_ ’s from the others. Hux ducked his head and hid his smile behind another muffin, before offering his tray to everyone at the table. They all refused, but were grateful just the same.

“See we thought he were leaving you behind on purpose. We didn’t know we were leavin’ to chase ya down!” Hornsby explained.

“By Jove I’m glad we did, this ship has never seen better days than those you graced us with.” Digby joined them, sitting down on the end of the bench and making the wood creak under his weight. Hux smiled, missing this, these men all at his dinner table.

He spotted Thanisson and Mitaka with the remaining crew from the _Finalizer_ , all sitting in the middle of the mess hall with some of the senior crew, laughing over rum and porridge. Hux noted the way Rod kept one arm on the small of Mitaka’s back, the way they leaned into one another for support. He had hoped the crew were as accepting of them as they had been of Hux, and if the shared laughter and pats on the back were anything to go by, it was safe to say that assimilation was going to be easy.

“I always thought the _Finalizer_ was destined to be my home, but it seems destiny has a funny way of meddling.” Hux looked to Kylo, who sat pressed against his side, still refusing to let go. He had pulled back the reins just enough so that he could eat his own breakfast, but a possessive hand was still hotly resting on Hux’s thigh.

“You are happy here, aren’t you sir? I’ll be your personal assistant if you’re not! Make sure everything is in tip top shape, I will!” Goji elbowed his way through to sit in between Stuart and Milton, looking up at Hux with those wide eyes of his.

“I’d be happy to teach you how to run a clean ship.” Hux winked, making them all laugh. There would never again be a day that went by with a grimy deck, that would be sure.

“Aye Cap’n!” Goji saluted. Hux offered the tray of muffins to the boy, and he gladly took a blueberry filled one, stuffing it into his face in the way that only children could get away with.

“Blimey! That’s a chunk of ice if I’ve ever seen one.” Bradshaw noted the ring that sat atop Hux’s finger as Hux wiped his hands with a linen napkin that Grievous was kind enough to include on the tray. “Captain, is there news to be had?”

“Would you like to tell them?” Hux asked shyly, not wanting to boast about their upcoming union too loudly. Hux didn’t need another swarm on his hands, and he was beginning to feel the pains from his stomach much stronger than earlier in the morning.

“It seems I’ve managed to convince our dear Admiral to stay aboard the _Silencer_ with me, for all eternity.” Kylo announced to the table, looking to Hux to see if he did a good job. Hux wanted to assure him that he did the very best of jobs, but before he was given the chance to speak, the table erupted into cheers.

“The Earth’ll quake un’erneath the iron fist of the two fiercest scourges on the seven seas.” Bradshaw smiled with all of his brown teeth.

Hux just laughed, giddy on the feeling of their blessing the union that would soon be made. He coincidentally looked towards the door at the same moment that Doc appeared on the other side of it, motioning with one hand for Hux to get up. He sighed, he didn’t want to leave just yet, not with half a cup of tea still piping hot, but the doctor insisted.

“It seems my streak of rebellion is over.” Hux excused himself, standing as swiftly as he was able. Kylo shot up out of his seat so quickly his thighs bumped into the table, nearly sending it over in his haste. “I shall return to the helm as soon as I am able, you have my word.” Hux slipped his hand into Kylo’s, and the two of them made their way towards their exasperated doc.

“We’ll hold ya to it!” Digby called, and Hux received another round of cheers as the rest of the pirates noticed his departure.

Hux only gave a salute in response, which the entire crew did in reply, nearly synchronized to Naval precision. He looked them in the eyes, or in some cases, eye, and made sure to convey some sense of pride in his own expression. These were _his_ men, they had fought together, killed together, and laughed together. The display of loyalty only made Hux straighten his back, the pain beginning to mount to excruciating. He truly did love this ship, and all the people aboard it, but he wouldn’t dare let them see him hurt any more than was necessary.

 

* * *

 

Hux spent the rest of the day in bed, asleep. Nearly as soon as Hux’s head hit the pillow, Doc administered another dosage of painkillers, wanting to get Hux out of consciousness before the true pain set in. The last thing Hux remembered was Kylo’s worried face looking down at him, and one clammy hand clasped between two firm ones. Then, the world blurred away to nothing but soft velvety darkness as sleep overtook him.

He woke occasionally, and although he wouldn’t remember these moments, those who kept watch in the ward would certainly never forget the way he screamed, the way he cried, hands yanking against their binding to prevent him from clawing at his wound.

“I’m drowning, I’m drowning!” He screamed, the veins in his red red neck pressing against the skin, his back arching off the mattress as his chest soaked with sweat.

“Captain, please – ” Mitaka tried to soothe him, pressing a hand against Hux’s feverish forehead, brushing the hair out of his eyes as they searched the room, unconfused. There was fear in his eyes, feral and primal, and Mitaka had never been more unnerved than in that moment, not even after surviving on the ocean in a small wooden raft.

“Armie, it’s okay, you’re safe, you’re not drowning.” Kylo rushed over to Hux’s side, the bowl of soup he was bringing Hux momentarily forgotten on the counter.

“Let me go! Let me go!” Hux begged, thrashing enough to nearly jostle his whole body out of the bed. If he hadn’t been tied down for this very reason, Kylo was certain that Hux probably would have.

“I can’t, you know I can’t, you’ll hurt yourself.” Kylo tried reasoning, knowing Hux wasn’t altogether present, and that there was no way he’d actually get through to the part of Hux’s brain that could absorb Kylo’s words.

“What do we do?” Mitaka asked, wringing the hot washcloth in his small hands.

“I don’t know.” Kylo grit his teeth together, mind racing for something, anything that could help as Hux screamed in agony beneath him.

They couldn’t risk giving him any more painkillers, not yet. Kylo rushed around the room trying to find something, anything that would help. He eyed the tray of food that Grievous had graciously sent up to the medical ward for Hux when he woke, and without a moment’s thought grabbed the silver tin of sugar.

“Hold him down.” Kylo instructed, and Mitaka sprang to action, carefully holding Hux’s head in between his two hands. Hux blinked up wetly at him, eyes frenzied in pain, and Mitaka could do nothing but silently pray, pray and beg to whoever would listen that Kylo knew what he was doing.  

Kylo took a deep breath and dumped the sugar into the wound, Hux’s body shaking the entire bed with the force of his shouts. The sugar burned its way through the deep gash in his side, and Kylo untied Hux’s hands, immediately caging him into his arms, holding his head against his chest. Hux’s screaming had settled into a loud whine after a while, and Kylo stroked up his back lovingly, trying to soothe him.

“It’s okay, you’re okay.” Kylo said over and over again, trying to get the words past Hux’s wall of hysterics.

“I’m drowning.” Hux whimpered, clutching Kylo’s arm with enough force to bruise.

“I’m going to sing to you, okay? Hux? I’m gonna sing now.” Kylo’s voice shook, but he cleared it, trying desperately to radiate a calm that Hux’s heart could pick up on. 

_O bury me not in the deep deep sea,_   
_The words came low and mournfully,_   
_From the palled lips of a youth who lay,_   
_On his cabin couch at the close of day,_   
_He had wasted and pined till o'er his brow,_   
_Death's shade had slowly passed, and now_   
_Where the land and his fond loved home were nigh_   
_They had gathered around him to see him die._

Hux’s volume lowered, the rumbling of Kylo’s voice through his chest somehow soothing him. Mitaka sat in the chair beside Hux’s bed, chest heaving from anxiety, feeling like there wasn’t enough air in the room suddenly. The screams had been so loud, so persistent, now that they were gone, Mitaka had time to process the fear that his Admiral felt, and it hurt him.

_O bury me not in the deep deep sea,_   
_Where the billowing shroud will swell o'er me,_   
_Where no light will break through the dark cold wave,_   
_And no sun beam rest upon my grave,_   
_It matters not, I have often been told_   
_Where the body shall lie when the heart is cold,_   
_Yet grant, O grant this boon to me,_   
_O bury me not in the deep deep sea._

Kylo rocked Hux back and forth, sort of mimicking the waves and how they carried the ship. Kylo decided then and there he would be Hux’s vessel, holding him and keeping him safe until whatever storm that plagued him has passed. He would be the arms Hux returned to at the end of the day, the lips he would kiss, the hand he would hold. But more than that, he would be the sword Hux would wield, the order that Hux would command, from now until the end of time, as long as Hux pulled through. He had to.

_For in fancy I've listened to the well known words,_   
_The free wild winds and the songs of the birds,_   
_I have thought of home, of cot, and of bower,_   
_And of scenes that I loved in childhood's hour,_   
_I had even hoped to be laid when I died,_   
_In the churchyard there on the green hill side,_   
_By the homes of my father my grave should be,_   
_O bury me not in the deep deep sea._

Outside, the men worked restlessly, setting the ship for a course to Dominica, wanting to get Hux to a real hospital as quickly as possible. They worked the sails and tied up the ropes, they scrubbed the deck and turned the pumps. They listened to Kylo’s voice, terrified by the funeral song he chose to sing. Despite the beauty of the ocean ahead of them, the birds soaring above them, and the shimmering fish swimming below them, they carried a weight in their chests.

_Let my death slumbers be where a mother's prayer,_   
_And a sister's tear shall be mingled there,_   
_It will be sweet ere the heart's gentle throb is o'er_   
_To know when its fountain shall gush no more,_   
_That those it so fondly hath yearned for will come,_   
_To plant the first wild flower of spring on my tomb,_   
_Let me lie where those loved ones will weep over me,_   
_O bury me not in the deep deep sea._

Grievous sat in the kitchen, pushing the stove and oven to produce healthy roasts of meat, fresh vegetables and hearty soups to be sent up to the medical ward. He’d be damned if the young admiral died on them now, he thought, as he stirred and seasoned the food. His silver leg gleamed in the light that came down in streams through the ceiling, light always managing to find a way in between cracks and crevices of old hardened wood. His warmth towards Hux had come about much in the same way, he thought.

_And there is another whose tears would be shed_   
_For him who lay far in an ocean bed,_   
_In hours that it pains me to think of now,_   
_She hath twined those locks and hath kissed this brow._   
_In the hair she hath wreathed shall the sea serpent hiss_   
_And the brow she hath pressed shall the cold wave kiss!_   
_For the sake of that bright one that waiteth for me,_   
_O bury me not in the deep deep sea._

Hux had nearly fallen asleep in Kylo’s arms, his hair darkened by sweat and stuck across his forehead, his eyes sluggishly falling closed. Kylo knew his beloved was staying awake to hear the final stanza, the last piece of a puzzle that had kept him awake for far longer than necessary. He settled Hux back on the bed, under Mitaka’s watchful eye, moving to sit on the edge of the bed, and only holding Hux’s hand.

_She hath been in my dreams – His voice failed there,_   
_They gave no heed to his dying prayer,_   
_They have lowered him low o'er the vessel side,_   
_Above him has closed the dark cold tide,_   
_Where to dip the light wings the sea bird rests,_   
_And the blue waves dance o'er the ocean crest,_   
_Where the billows bound and the winds sport free,_   
_They have buried him there in the deep deep sea._

Almost like magic, Hux’s eyes closed at the last bars of the song, something close to a smile gracing his sunken cheeks. Kylo and Mitaka both let out a sigh of relief, then turning to one another and smiling.

“Thank you, for being here for him.” Kylo said. It was the first time he and Mitaka had ever been alone together, the first time Kylo had ever really spoken to him.

“He means a great deal to me, as he does to you. I’d sell my soul to Davy Jones if it would help him.” Mitaka replied honestly, taking his eyes off of Hux’s sleeping face to look into the eyes of the man who had stolen his captain’s heart.

He was surprised to find such a different man that the fearsome pirate captain he had heard so much about, who was capable of dreadful things. Here at least, where there was no one to judge, he was a man like the rest of them. A man who was currently fidgeting with the hem of his jacket, working up the courage to say something.

“We were thinking –  well, Hux was thinking – that you could officiate. At the ceremony.” Kylo managed, his eye on the ring that Hux clung to.

“It would be my honor, sir.” Mitaka smiled, following Kylo’s gaze and seeing the sparkles cast onto the wall the ring made when the light hit it just so.

“I know that you two have a history together, one that goes back for years, and I don’t want you to think that I want to infringe on that.” Kylo said, meaning every word. As much as he wanted to be selfish and keep Hux all to himself, to never share him with another living soul, he knew that in the end, that would destroy them both. Hux needed his friends, as did Kylo, as did any other living person.

“Captain, the two of you have a bond stronger than anything I have ever seen. Hux never truly knew happiness until he met you, that I am certain of.” Mitaka bravely put a hand on Kylo’s shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze before leaning in close. “The next time you break his heart, however, will be the last time you do anything, if I’m to be understood, sir.”

“I trust you to make good on that, Lieutenant.” Kylo nodded, the two of them smiling.

 

* * *

 

Hux slept peacefully through the night, his skin slowly but surely stitching together, the sugar clotting the wound and preventing him from bleeding dry. He woke late into the day, judging by the bowls of soup that he found stacked like a house of cards on his bedside table.

In the bed with him were Kylo, and strangely, Mitaka, all fully clothed and barely fitting on the bed. They must have stayed with Hux the entire night, bodies eventually giving out when it became evident that Hux wasn’t going to wake up again. He wondered what they spoke about, if they would be able to get along, how long they waited for another bout of his screams.

Ravenous, Hux gulped down three bowls of soup, and chewed his way through an entire plate of meat and potatoes. As he reached for the plate of vegetables, he accidentally shifted too much and creaked the bed, causing his dearest companions to wake.

“Hux?” Kylo asked, sitting up and giving him space.

“Is he awake?” Mitaka asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“Yes, he is.” Hux answered with a tired smile. Hux’s throat was dry, and it cracked when he spoke. Kylo reached around him and grabbed a glass of water off the counter, pressing it to Hux’s sandpaper lips.

“Mitaka, would you mind finding me a nice outfit for today? Something white, please?” Hux was mortified to find himself with morning wood, and he desperately wanted to do something about it, but anything of that nature required Mitaka’s immediate departure.

“Captain, I don’t think you should be out of bed.” He said with a frown, Kylo about to agree when Hux shot him a look of want that suddenly had Kylo changing his mind.

“It’ll only be for a short while, please.” Hux said, pressing the matter. Mitaka sighed and rolled his eyes, eventually relenting and moving towards the door.

“Okay, I’ll be right back.” Mitaka said in much the same way a mother might say to their child, that tone of voice that meant _don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone._

Hux planned to be very stupid, and as soon as Mitaka was through the door, he let his legs fall open before Kylo.

“Lock the door.” He whispered, throat still scratchy. Kylo immediately obeyed, even going so far as to place a chair under the door knob, in case their favorite doctor was to come looking. “Come here.” He beckoned, happy to find that Kylo didn’t want to resist him.

“I really shouldn’t, you’re not well.” Kylo groaned, as Hux pulled in down to kiss him. He knew his breath must be a little sour, but Kylo didn’t seem to mind, eagerly sucking on his lower lip.

“This will make me feel better.” Hux combed his fingers through Kylo’s hair, fisting a handful of it and tilting his head this way and that, to get a better angle.

Hux knew that once his energy after today was spent, he would likely sleep for the rest of the day, hell, maybe his dreams would even spill into tomorrow. He would miss Phasma at the ceremony, but they would have plenty of time to celebrate in the years to come. He wanted to be as legally wed as possible, wanted to be bound to Kylo in body and soul. He thought that being Admiral surely gave him high enough stature that they could consummate their union before the emotional toll would be taken on his body in its current state.

He sat up just enough to tug at the strings that held the collar of his medical gown closed, and Kylo helped him in lifting the cotton over his head, exposing his skin. His nipples were hard, and his chest was flushed a deep red, making the freckles there stand out proudly; a constellation that Kylo wanted to map with his tongue and fingertips.

Lower down, was the wound, a nasty thing that was still a bright purple smear up Hux’s side. Kylo was careful to steer clear of the flesh, not wanting to disturb it as he made his way down Hux’s body, kissing each bit of skin on the way. Listening to just the soft whimpers falling from Hux’s lips, Kylo kissed the insides of Hux’s thighs before licking Hux’s cock from the base of his shaft all the way up to the tip, tonguing the slit there for a moment.

The hand in Kylo’s hair tightened, and Hux lifted his hips enough to fully bury himself in Kylo’s mouth, not able to suppress the moan that tumbled out as Kylo sucked the hollows of his cheeks in and swallowed his cock down, the head nudging the back of his throat. He lifted one leg and let it rest over Kylo’s shoulder, the heel of his foot digging into Kylo’s back, drawing him in closer.

He could feel the smile against his skin, and even more viscerally, the finger that made its way up to press against Hux’s hole. He squirmed, desperate for more friction, and breathed a happy sigh when Kylo obliged, pushing the finger in. It was too dry, but it didn’t bother Hux too much. There would be time for a proper fucking after he had healed completely, this was about relieving tension and simply being close to one another.

Kylo worked the finger in and out until he could fit a second one, Hux’s cock already leaking with enough fluid to ease the way. Hux could feel Kylo searching for his prostate, and once he found it, Kylo’s other hand had to quickly steady Hux’s hips, preventing them from bucking up too sharply. Hux had remained mostly immobile while receiving his blowjob, but he was beginning to get antsy. He was, however, extremely relaxed, something he didn’t expect to feel for quite a few more days to come. He assumed it was some magic Kylo had over him, that let him lay there peacefully as Kylo gently rubbed Hux’s prostate in little circles.

Those circles had Hux moaning, unable to keep in in any longer. Kylo pulled off of Hux’s cock, a sticky wet trail clinging to Kylo’s lip, as the tip of his cock slowly oozed, a steady stream of pre-come that Hux couldn’t control. He wanted Kylo to move his fingers faster, to give more pressure, anything to relieve the building heat in his spine, but Kylo remained consistent and milked Hux’s body for every last drop that it was worth.

He didn’t even know when his orgasm began, or when it had ended, it was one long thing drawn out so carefully and lovingly that Hux felt like he was floating. Each breath in was stuttered, and each breath out was a moan so low that Kylo had moved up his body to capture each and every one, savoring it like he was sipping a mulled wine, not the sighs of a man in love.

Kylo pulled away when there was nothing more coming forth from Hux’s cock, not a single drop left to be spent. He reached into his own trousers and tugged at his cock until he too was coming, nearly doubling over in pleasure. Hux took advantage of his toppled position to kiss the side of his nose, not able to fully sit up for his body had turned to jelly.

“I want you to wear black.” Hux whispered, eyes closed. He felt incredible, like he could do anything.

“Anything you want.” Kylo replied simply, making Hux smile brighter than all the sunlight in the world.

 

* * *

 

The ceremony was just as Hux envisioned it; as makeshift of an altar as it was, it was beautiful, and standing at the front were Mitaka with his bible, Kylo – dressed in all black just as Hux had asked – and the Knights, all seven of them straight-backed and in their cleanest outfits.

The crew had gathered around, filling in all the space there was to be had, with respectably combed hair and shined shoes. The sky had not a single cloud, not one blemish to the endless expanse of blue that swallowed the earth whole, that promised a clear horizon with the calmest of waves. The sun was warm and bright, golden yellow of the afternoon casting its long shadows, the vibrancy of the ship and the world around them more akin to something out of a Renaissance painting than reality.

Hux walked proudly down their aisle, wooden planks solid beneath his feet. He was in white silk, entirely from head to toe, and it shimmered in the breeze. His hair was tousled with enough salt to let his curls spring free from their normally gelled back state, the leather tricorn adorned with gold clips and hoops similar to those in his ears.

He had walked to the tune of a slow wedding song played by the ship’s band, and held a bouquet of seashells, twined together with thin rope. Kylo’s hair was tucked neatly behind his ears, he was grinning so hard that the movement of his cheeks threatened to let a lock or two loose.

They had spoken their vows, short and simple promises to love one another until the end of time. They had exchanged their rings, delivered to them by Goji’s safe hands, tears of joy in the child’s eyes.

“Do you promise to be faithful to him in all things as a man should be faithful to his husband, according to the command of God?” Mitaka asked Kylo, who eagerly nodded.

“I do.” He had never sounded more sure of anything in his life, and it make Hux’s heart beat faster.

“And do you, promise to be faithful to him in all things as a man should be faithful to his husband, according to the command of God?” Mitaka repeated, directing it towards Hux this time. Hux grinned and blushed, and nodded as well.

“I do.” Hux breathed, voice as strong as Kylo’s, if not more.

Mitaka proclaimed them married, and the entire ship erupted into applause and congratulations, the small band striking up a lively tune. Kylo took Hux’s face in his hands and they shared a kiss so sweet that Hux let the whole wide world drop away, focus narrowed to a single point. They had kissed and kissed, and kissed again, and the ocean did applaud their splendor, dolphins leaping through the wake the _Silencer_ left.

And then they kissed _again_ , until the cheering evolved into whistling, until they were too dizzy from lack of air to kiss anymore.

When it was all over, when the crew left to the mess hall to celebrate with mugs of rum and music, Hux pulled Kylo across the ship and to the prow, where they steadily walked along the beam of wood and sat, Hux’s back to Kylo’s front, looking at the wide world ahead of them.

“What should people call us from now on?” Kylo asked once they were settled.

“What do you mean?” Hux asked, arching an eyebrow. He had enough titles as it was, he didn’t need to confuse anyone further.

“Kylo Hux, Armitage Ren?” Kylo mused, sounding out the names on his tongue. They all sounded funny, not rolling very smoothly, so he switched his tactic. “Or should be hyphenate, Kylo and Armitage Hux-Ren, Ren-Hux?”

“You’re very silly.” Hux laughed, watching the dolphins jump and swim ahead of the ship. They had been blessed by the sea, Hux thought, no matter how silly they were.  “I think we should keep our names the way they are.”

“And what should I call you then?” Kylo asked, hell bent on dragging a pet name out of him.

“You can’t simply use my name like you’ve been doing the entire time you’ve known me?” Hux chuckled, bracing himself of the prow to turn nearly halfway around so he could look his husband in the eye.

His _husband,_ his brain repeated, excitement bubbling up in his chest.

“I wasn’t married to you the entire time I’ve known you.” Kylo pointed out, making Hux huff out a laugh and turn back around, the position putting too much strain on his side.

“When it’s the two of us, you may call me Armie, but only when you are feeling especially in love.” Hux declared. He knew Kylo had spoken that name while he was ill, and he wanted to only have Kylo need to say it during good times, happy times.

“Well then, Armie, where shall we sail to next?” Kylo asked, resting his chin on Hux’s shoulder, his favorite spot for such a thing.

Hux grinned, pressing himself snugly into the warmth of Kylo’s chest; sitting up there on the prow with their legs dangling in the air, he had never felt more at peace. They could sail off into the great unknown, conquer new lands and claim new prizes all for their own. Hux would need to rest, and heal, and survive, but nothing was impossible, not for them, not anymore.

After all, not even Davy Jones could take the Pirate King.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING!! If you've made it this far, if you've stuck with me for this long, or even if you just skipped to the end to see if these boys make it together (they do ;) ) then THANK YOU! You mean the world to me, every single one of you, and I'm so thankful that you all have been so patient in my sporadic updates. I hope that this chapter makes up for it! Now, for the final time, here are some pirate facts :)
> 
> -The earliest reports of surgical suture date to 3000 BC in ancient Egypt, and the oldest known suture is in a mummy from 1100 BC. Stitches weren't widely used in the Western hemisphere until 18th-19th centuries due to a lack of medical knowledge. During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, wounds were thought to be the place where bad humors (types of bodily fluids) gathered and were generated. Wounds were intentionally left open to allow these humors to exit the body, which could inadvertently, kill the patient. Aside from that, bloodletting and leeches were also a common practice to heal infections, so we should all thank Doc for stitching our admiral up!  
> -Goji is named after the goji berry, also known as the wolfberry. It comes from a shrub that's native to China. Piracy in China and Asia in general has a long and fascinating history, but traditionally, the goji berry is eaten in the hopes of living a long and happy life :)  
> -The ring that Kylo gives to Hux is a posy ring. A posy/posie is a short verse inscribed on a ring. Posy rings were first commonly worn in the 15th century. In their beginning they had bold designs and were inscribed with words on the outside of the bands. As time went on the designs of the bands became simpler, but the inscriptions became more personal, forcing goldsmiths to advance their techniques and learn to engrave on the inside of the rings to keep these messages private and close to the wearer.  
> \- AMOR VINCIT OMNIA means 'Love conquers all' in Latin :)
> 
> Thank you once again to everyone who read this monster of a fic, if you'd ever like to talk with me about OBMN, kylux, or anything in general, please feel free to find me on tumblr @cowboykylux ! xxxxxx

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked this chapter, it is going to be so much fun to write the progression of their relationship :)
> 
> As I mentioned in the earlier notes, I happen to have a lot of knowledge on piracy, so I thought I would share some of that here with you all! I hope it allows you to visualize and understand the story better. 
> 
> -The golden age of piracy is generally thought to be from 1650-1730  
> -This story takes place around the early 1700s, with a series of events mentioned that will be the precursor for the Anglo-Spanish war of 1796 (we won't get into the war here, but just so you lovely people have a time frame for reference!)  
> -The Finalizer is based off of a real ship, a 17th century Man-of-War named Sovereign of the Seas. The quote I pulled from Trinity House and the drama I mentioned surrounding the ship were all true!  
> -Hux's uniform looks like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy_ranks,_rates,_and_uniforms_of_the_18th_and_19th_centuries#/media/File:Edward_Pellew,_1st_Viscount_Exmouth_by_James_Northcote.jpg  
> -All the orders Hux gives are real orders, and the storm procedure is what captains would actually do to try and survive on the open waters like that.
> 
> If you have any questions about anything, or just want to chat with me, you can find me on tumblr @cowboykylux! xxxx


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